Christine Neubert, Ballet studio #819 By Josef Birdman Astor

When did you decide to make a documentary about what was happening?
I never intended to make a documentary about the evictions of the artists in the Carnegie Studios. I began documenting the tenants in 2001, six years before we were given lease termination notices. So when the notices appeared on all the studio doors my camera was already poised, and the tenants accustomed to seeing me with it. This was how I was able to capture the subsequent drama as it unfolded, with an immediacy and a verité spirit. Sometimes the tensions were so high that I forgot the camera was on – it was all filmed in the real heat of the moment.

Besides the film’s obvious value as a chronicle of the evictions, it must have been an extremely emotional process for you — not only being evicted yourself but getting inside the stories of all the resident artists that were forced out.
Yes, there was considerable stress, as I was wearing three hats – tenant organiser, filmmaker, and victim of the evictions. The tenants became closer knit as a result of this fight and recognised what was at stake was not only our spaces and the community there, but the tradition of the studios themselves. I found enormous inspiration from the older tenants who bolstered our confidence with tales of fighting the CHC in the 1970s. In particular Jeanne Beauvais, the chanteuse in studio 858, really stands out as someone who continued her fighting spirit up until the bitter end – she eventually passed away during the filming.
      She was instrumental in saving the entire Carnegie building when it was threatened with demolition in the late 1950s.