The Market
(2021) 39:00
Since the 1930s, the tract of Northeast Washington, D.C. known variously as Union Terminal Market, Florida Avenue Market, Capital City Market, and simply, Union Market, has been made and remade largely by immigrants. Throughout its history, it has served a diverse population of regional customers.
"The Market" follows three small businesses; a Salvadorian pupuseria, Peruvian take-out restaurant, and Pakistani perfume shop. Starting in the fall of 2019 --and continuing for over a year-- the film captures key moments of challenge and reward.
In the spring of 2020, all are blindsided by an unexpected public health and economic crisis. The coronavirus pandemic magnifies the challenges of being an independent entrepreneur, putting an enormous strain on new businesses and those already struggling to survive. For some, COVID-19 exacerbates the precariousness of commerce in a redeveloping neighborhood. As the D.C. economy grinds to a halt, the film's subjects try to adapt, stay open, stay safe, and pay rent. In the end, not all can stay afloat.
Alvida Cinema
(in production)
A documentary that investigates the extinction of single-screen cinema halls in urban Indian neighborhoods throughout the nation.
Whereas these buildings once provided communities with affordable, secular and democratically accessible civic spaces, these now abandoned structures serve as metaphors for India’s rapid and complicated cultural and economic shifts in an age of hyper globalization.
The film travels through Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Hyderabad to explore forgotten theaters and recollect their former societal value with film industry members, scholars, critics, cinema hall workers and casual movie fans, who provide reflections on the past and predictions of the future.