Movie Plot |
How did Los Angeles transform itself from a conservative urban center to one of the most progressive cities in the nation? How has the empowerment of immigrants helped transform this city? In The New Los Angeles, Academy-Award nominated filmmaker Lyn Goldfarb (With Babies and Banners, The Roman Empire in the First Century) explores the complexities of inclusion in Los Angeles-the nation's largest majority minority city and the city with the largest divide between rich and poor. This powerful portrait of a city in transition begins in 1973 with the election of Mayor Tom Bradley, the first African American mayor of a major city without a black majority, and concludes with the political empowerment of Latinos and the election of Los Angeles's current Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Los Angeles's first Latino mayor in more than 130 years. The documentary looks beyond the Hollywood dreamscape to a vibrant city grappling with many of the issues now commonplace throughout the nation: immigration, globalization, de-industrialization and a shrinking middle class. This story profiles the efforts of immigrants and the working poor, in coalition with community organizations, labor unions and elected officials, to transform the environment in which they live and to make the city accountable to its residents. The film explores the shifting political ground that is shaping the city's future and demonstrating that change is possible. This is a story about forging coalitions, nurturing inclusion, seeding innovation, salvaging identity and building community-issues that resonate throughout America and the world. |
|
