EL ÚLTIMO PAN (THE LAST BREAD)
Directed by: Maria Rosa Badia
After 17 years in business, La Villita Bakery in Williamsburg, Brooklyn was forced to close its doors. A victim of rising rents and rapid gentrification, this family owned business was a staple of the working class community that once could afford to live in the area. Chronicling the final days of this beloved bakery, The Last Bread (2013) captures the death of yet another small business in an increasingly homogeneous New York City.
This film is part of UnionDocs sprawling Living Los Sures project. You can see the film from 1984 that inspired their work, Los Sures, on MUBI until October 3rd.
About the Living Los Sures Project:
LIVING LOS SURES
Produced over 5 years by 60 artists at UnionDocs Center for Documentary Art, Living Los Sures is an expansive project about the Southside of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Known by its longterm Latino residents as Los Sures, the neighborhood was one of the poorest in New York City in the late 70s and early 80s. In fact, it had been called the worst ghetto in America. Today, it is the site of a battle between local identity and luxury lifestyle. With the restoration of Los Sures, a brilliant work of cinéma vérité filmmaking as a starting point, the project has developed into a collection of 40 short films, the interactive documentary 89 Steps, and the cinematic people’s history Shot by Shot, demonstrating new possibilities for collaboration between an arts institution and its surrounding community to collect memories and share local culture.