FREE FILM : NYC
SOUTH BRONX

July 13 - August 12, 2023 Neighborhood: South Bronx Partners: Bronx Documentary Center Prompt: One Square Mile Artist: Sofie Vasquez

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FREE FILM : NYC follows the footsteps of the previous iterations as a meditation on community and local culture. The Airstream-darkroom will take up residency in a given neighborhood and distribute free rolls of film to the general public, and WORTHLESSSTUDIOS will partner with local community organizations and hold youth workshops where students will learn how to use a film camera, focus a lens and process and print film using professional equipment provided by FREE FILM. Over the course of the next year and a half, the project will make its way around New York to document each borough, neighborhood by neighborhood.

FREE FILM : NYC - SOUTH BRONX will be launching this July in collaboration with the Bronx Documentary Center. FREE FILM : NYC aims to document and catalog our communities and our city in new ways, by democratizing the documentation of our ever-shifting realities.

Photographer and South Bronx native Sofie Vazquez will be our photographer in residence. Starting July 13th, Sofie will teach a series of workshops and lead photowalks for the local youth around the Bronx Documentary Center (BDC) in the South Bronx, as well as work with the elder community in Soundview.

As part of the project, we invite photographers of all levels to participate by shooting photographs within the boundaries of the neighborhood as a response to the prompt “ONE SQUARE MILE.” From July 13th to August 13th, the Airstream-darkroom will distribute free rolls of black and white 35mm film to the general public. Participants can drop off their film at the BDC or at the mailbox on the Airstream-darkroom 24/7 by August 13th. WORTHLESSSTUDIOS and our darkroom partner Picturehouse + thesmalldarkroom will develop the film and send negatives to participants after the program is over.

The project kicks off on July 13th, 2023, at the Bronx Documentary Center from 12-4 PM at the FREE FILM : NYC - South Bronx Opening Party and you are invited!

PUBLIC PROGRAMMING SCHEDULE

Friday, July 14th 2-4 PM Workshop: Family Album Come work on your family archive, bring your old family photos to make a new family album.

Friday, July 21st 2-4 PM Workshop: Film Photography 101 New to photography? Join us for an intro to analog film, cameras and basic darkroom processes.

Friday, July 28th 2-4 PM Workshop: Cyanotypes and digital negatives A workshop for a DIY photographic experience!

Saturday, July 29th 12:30 PM Photowalk: Soundview Park Meet at Morrison-Soundview stop (between Westchester Ave and Morrison Ave)

HOW IT WORKS

Step 1: When a new neighborhood is launched, photographers come pick up a roll and celebrate the kick off with WORTHLESSSTUDIOS wherever the Airstream darkroom is parked. Photographers fill out a sign-up form to join and film is given out on a first come, first served basis.

Step 2: Participating photographers have a month to shoot their roll of film on the prompt of “ONE SQUARE MILE” within the boundaries of the current neighborhood. Participants are asked to interpret the theme however they see fit.

Step 3: Once they have shot their film, participants return their roll of film (with their name written on it) by the deadline and fill out the return form to ensure their film is processed. There will be a drop location that can receive film at all times.

Step 4: WORTHLESSSTUDIOS will process all film and scans will be emailed FOR FREE to photographers, whether or not they choose to have their negatives returned. WORTHLESSSTUDIOS develops film and sends scans on a rolling basis so the sooner you return the sooner you get your scans.

Step 5: The images could be published into a hardcover book! FREE FILM : NYC will travel to multiple neighborhoods over the next 18 months distributing film on the same prompt phrase. Once all the neighborhoods are complete a selection of images from each neighborhood will be put together and published as a book like we’ve done for the last three iterations of the project.

Find out more about FREE FILM public events, workshops, and upcoming iterations by subscribing to the WORTHLESSSTUDIOS newsletter below.

Sunday, July 30th until 5 PM FREE FILM : NYC S. Bronx film drop off Drop off at the BDC during open hours or at the Airstream 24/7

Friday, August 11th 2-4PM
Workshop: Mural Project Join us for the end of Sofie’s residency, we’ll make a cyanotype banner with plants, flowers, and our bodies.

Saturday, August 12th 12:30 PM Photowalk: Westchester Ave
Meet at the Airstream mobile darkroom. Parked in front of the BDC, on 151 Street and Courtlandt Ave.

ABOUT SOFIE VASQUEZ

Sofie Vasquez (b. 1998) is an Ecuadorian documentary photographer born and raised in The Bronx, New York.

Her artwork is focused on long term projects that explores subcultures and communities through the relationships and connections she makes with everyone involved. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Cut, The Guardian and has been exhibited with the Bronx Museum of the Arts, the Ecuadorian-American Cultural Center, The Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural and Educational Center, Photoville and En Foco Inc.

She is an alumni of the International Center of Photography's Community Fellows, and is a part of the first graduating class of the fellowship (2018-2020) She is an alumni of the Bronx Documentary Center’s Film Fellows 2021-2022 as well as a recipient of the BRIO 2021 award. She is currently an educator working in The Bronx as well as a freelancing documentarian.

About the Bronx Documentary Center

The Bronx Documentary Center (BDC) is a non-profit gallery and educational space. Through exhibitions, screenings, and public programming, they show the work of internationally-renowned and emerging photographers and filmmakers who are dealing with the themes that guide the BDC: justice, education, community-building, and positive social change. They also provide free education programs for middle and high school students as well as professional education workshops for historically underrepresented adult Bronx-based photographers that provide opportunities for professional development and skills training in photojournalism, filmmaking and documentary photography.