A trailblazing housing organizer and her diverse working class neighbors fight Robert Moses, the real estate industry and five mayors to create the first Community Land Trust in New York City - an oasis of permanently low-income housing in the heart of the rapidly gentrifying Lower East Side.

Trailer

 
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About

In 1959 New York City announced a “slum clearance plan” by Robert Moses that would displace 2,400 working class and immigrant families, and dozens of businesses, from the Cooper Square section of Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Guided by the belief that urban renewal should benefit - not displace - residents, a working mother named Frances Goldin and her neighbors formed the Cooper Square Committee (CSC) and launched a campaign to save the neighborhood. Over five decades they fought politicians, developers, white flight, government abandonment, blight, violence, arson, drugs, and gentrification - cyclical forces that have destroyed so many working class neighborhoods across the US. Through tenacious organizing and hundreds of community meetings, they not only held their ground but also developed a vision of community control. Fifty three years later, they established the state’s first community land trust - a diverse, permanently affordable neighborhood in the heart of the “real estate capital of the world.”

 

Purchase

Educational use

We provide DVDs and streaming rights to educators, community groups, government agencies, public libraries, museums and businesses - from a 14 day rental to a life of file streaming option.

RABBLE ROUSERS is not just a beautiful portrait of a leader and a movement, but a how-to guide for insurgent planners seeking to imagine a better future and organize to make it a reality. If this film doesn’t inspire you to take action for the future of your city, check your pulse.
— Samuel Stein, author of Capital City: Gentrification and the Real Estate State
When the film ended, my students spontaneously clapped and cheered. They had a lot of questions and wanted to talk all night about all of the issues the film raises. The story of Frances’ fighting spirit and her humanity and her love of life right there on the screen gave them real hope that another better world really is possible.
— Lorraine C. Minnite, Associate Professor of Public Policy at Rutgers University-Camden
RABBLE ROUSERS is at once a history of New York’s Lower East Side through the eyes of tenant organizers, and a how-to guide to beating the rich and powerful at their own game. And Frances Goldin is an utterly unforgettable heroine. It’s a joy to watch, and will make you want to go out and raise hell.
— Sarah Jaffe, author of Work Won't Love You Back and Necessary Trouble
RABBLE ROUSERS will become an essential part of undergraduate and graduate coursework in American urban history, New York City history, urban policy and politics, and social movements. This riveting film gets directly to what it is - and what always has been - at stake in public conversations about urban redevelopment.
— Laura Wolf-Powers, author of University City: History, Race & Community in the Era of the Innovation District Associate Professor of Urban Policy and Planning, Hunter College (CUNY)
 
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Screenings

Upcoming Screenings

Saturday, April 13th, 2024, 3pm EST | Museum of the City of New York, New York.

Past Screenings

  • March 7-10, 2024 | Budapest Architecture Film Festival, Hungary
    March 1-8, 2024 | Santiago Alvarez Memoriam Documentary Festival, Cuba
    February 17, 2024 | The People’s Forum, New York City

  • Nov 12, Community Room 8A NYC | Nov 3, Pratt Institute Brooklyn NY | Oct 29, Workers United Film Festival NYC | Oct 28, Boston University MA | Oct 12, Mary McLeod Bethune Life Center Jersey City NJ | Sep 8, Jerry H. Labowitz Theatre for the Performing Arts NYC | Sep 30, 59 E 4th St. NYC | Jun 4, Community Room 8A NYC | May 31, Hall University Settlement NYC | May 25, 59 E 4th St. NYC | May 18, Barrow Mansion, Jersey City NJ | May 11, Hunter College NY | Apr 20, Planners Network NYC Special Hour | Apr 16 & Mar 24-26, Firehouse Cinema NYC

 

Press

Reviews

Journal of the American Planning Association - a review of Rabble Rousers by Ezra Haber Glenn, MIT

Educational Media Review Online City - a review of Rabble Rousers by Kimberly Poppiti

Video Librarian - a review of Rabble Rousers by Sue-Ellen Beauregard

Progressive City - “It took us 50 Fucking Years”: a review of Rabble Rousers by Samuel Stein

Journalism Hunter College - “Department Chair Kelly Anderson and Alum Ryan Joseph release new film Rabble Rousers: Frances Goldin and the Fight for Cooper Square“ by Etta Feuer

InterviewS

The Laura Flanders Show: April, 9 2023

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Filmmakers

Kathryn Barnier, Ryan Joseph, Kelly Anderson

Kathryn Barnier (Producer, Director, Editor) • Ryan Joseph (Producer, Director) • Kelly Anderson (Producer, Director)