Directed by Michal Goldman | 2008 | United States | 57 mins.
During the 1920s, faced with an urban housing crisis and their own limited means, thousands of immigrant Jewish garment workers managed to fulfill the American dream of home ownership by building big, beautiful, cooperatively owned apartment complexes in the Bronx.
This film tells the story of the Jewish labor cooperative housing movement across two generations, honing in on the politically radical Coops to explore connections between their architectural design, communal life, political activism – including an early iteration of DEI – and the shifting priorities of the city. PBS Independent Lens 2009; Oral History Association award, 2011.
A fascinating film” - Dolores Hayden, Yale University.
This beautiful film not only recovers a nearly forgotten radical workers’ community and a culture of collective ownership, but it reminds us what is possible when we organize.” - Robin D. G. Kelley, UCLA