Wednesday, December 05, 2007
CAMBRIDGE FILM SCREENING ABOUT CLOTHES & DIASPORIC CULTURE - December 9, 2007
A Film Screening:
Secondhand (Pepe)
A documentary about used clothes & diasporic culture
secondhand clothes pile
This Sunday, December 9th
8 pm (doors at 7:30) FREE!
@ Dollar-a-Pound/Garment District
200 Broadway, Cambridge
Ever wonder what happens to your old clothes after you give them away? Where do the clothes you find at the thrift store come from? A new Indie film about secondhand clothing and immigrant communities, made by duo Shell and Bertozzi, answers these questions and more. On December 9th at 8 pm the filmmakers are screening "Secondhand (Pepe)" as part of a special free event at Dollar-a-Pound (downstairs at the famous Garment District vintage clothing mecca in Kendall Square). In the movie, a historical memoir intertwines with the present-day story of "pepe" seconhand clothing that flows from the United States to haiti. Plus, great music, archival footage of old-time ragpickers and behind-the-scenes shots of Cambridge's Dollar-a-Pound.
"We followed the trail of secondhand American clothes all the way from Dollar-a-Pound to Haiti to film for our movie," say Vanessa Bertozzi and Hanna Rose Shell, the movie's co-directors. "We hope some of the same people who were there when we started shooting will come to the screening. This screening brings it full circle. What a great atmosphere to show our movie with people wearing their favorite pieces of secondhand clothing and sitting in the mountains of clothes at Dollar-a-Pound!"
The used clothing business has grown to be an enormous industry over the course of the 20th-century. Today billions of pounds of used American clothing make its way to developing countries, and Haiti with its particular political/economic relationship to the United States serves as a remarkable example. Interestingly, the industry in the US has its roots in earlier waves of immigrant communities, notably Eastern European Jews who became ragpickers upon arrival. The impact of this business both economically and culturally and its history are little understood by the average American.
Secondhand (Pepe) serves as a conversation starter for Americans, people of Jewish descent, Haitian-Americans and Haitians. Everyone has a voice in the movie and the imagery, music and language of these cultures inter-mix in the flow of the film.
For more information :
Contact: Vanessa Bertozzi vanbertozzi@gmail.com 917-692-4564
Hanna Rose Shell shell@fas.harvard.edu 617-230-6900
Secondhand (Pepe)
A documentary about used clothes & diasporic culture
secondhand clothes pile
This Sunday, December 9th
8 pm (doors at 7:30) FREE!
@ Dollar-a-Pound/Garment District
200 Broadway, Cambridge
Ever wonder what happens to your old clothes after you give them away? Where do the clothes you find at the thrift store come from? A new Indie film about secondhand clothing and immigrant communities, made by duo Shell and Bertozzi, answers these questions and more. On December 9th at 8 pm the filmmakers are screening "Secondhand (Pepe)" as part of a special free event at Dollar-a-Pound (downstairs at the famous Garment District vintage clothing mecca in Kendall Square). In the movie, a historical memoir intertwines with the present-day story of "pepe" seconhand clothing that flows from the United States to haiti. Plus, great music, archival footage of old-time ragpickers and behind-the-scenes shots of Cambridge's Dollar-a-Pound.
"We followed the trail of secondhand American clothes all the way from Dollar-a-Pound to Haiti to film for our movie," say Vanessa Bertozzi and Hanna Rose Shell, the movie's co-directors. "We hope some of the same people who were there when we started shooting will come to the screening. This screening brings it full circle. What a great atmosphere to show our movie with people wearing their favorite pieces of secondhand clothing and sitting in the mountains of clothes at Dollar-a-Pound!"
The used clothing business has grown to be an enormous industry over the course of the 20th-century. Today billions of pounds of used American clothing make its way to developing countries, and Haiti with its particular political/economic relationship to the United States serves as a remarkable example. Interestingly, the industry in the US has its roots in earlier waves of immigrant communities, notably Eastern European Jews who became ragpickers upon arrival. The impact of this business both economically and culturally and its history are little understood by the average American.
Secondhand (Pepe) serves as a conversation starter for Americans, people of Jewish descent, Haitian-Americans and Haitians. Everyone has a voice in the movie and the imagery, music and language of these cultures inter-mix in the flow of the film.
For more information :
Contact: Vanessa Bertozzi vanbertozzi@gmail.com 917-692-4564
Hanna Rose Shell shell@fas.harvard.edu 617-230-6900
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