
- Rebecca Lepkoff’s “Lower East Side, 1947.”
BY SCOTT STIFFLER | ORDINARY MIRACLES: THE PHOTO LEAGUE’S NEW YORK Director Nina Rosenblum’s documentary film pays tribute to an influential group of artists and socially progressive truth-seekers working in the medium of still photography. From 1936-1951, The Photo League functioned as the center of the documentary movement in American photography. Young and idealistic, League members took their cameras into the streets to capture images meant to expose social problems and achieve social justice. For that, they were branded as Communists and blacklisted — forcing the League to disband.
Decades later, in addition to several of its members, the work survives — providing a panoramic view of New York City during the thirties and forties (the El train, May Day rallies in Union Square, cutting contests at the Savoy Ballroom, automats and Lower East Side street life).
Among those documenting the LES: the filmmaker’s father, Walter Rosenblum, and Rebecca Lepkoff — whose work is included in “The Radical Camera,” a Photo League exhibit on view through March 25, at the Jewish Museum (her own exhibit, “Life on the Lower East Side,” can be seen at the Tenement Museum, through April). Lepkoff, along with several other Photo League members and Miriam Grossman Cohen (wife of League founder Sid Grossman) will attend the screening of “Ordinary Miracles,” and participate in a Q&A.
Thurs., March 29, 8pm. At IFC Center (323 Sixth Ave., at W. Third St.). For info, 212-924-7771. Visit daedalus.tv, thephotoleaguefilm.com and ifccenter.com, tenement.org and thejewishmuseum.org.
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Sat., March 24, 1-9pm, at the SVA Theatre (333 W. 23rd St., btw. 8th & 9th Aves.). $15 pass includes entry to all screenings. For a full schedule, visit sva.edu.