Rooted/Uprooted

A family-owned flower shop brings the neighborhood together in ritual, memory and celebration

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Rooted/Uprooted (2014) is a portrait of Nelly’s, family-owned flower shop in the Southside of Williamsburg.

Sandwiched between elevated tracks and congested streets, we watch as this tiny oasis brings the local population together in ritual, memory and celebration. Through customer portraits, candid interviews with the store’s owner Nelly, and cinéma vérité footage captured inside and outside the shop, this nontraditional documentary considers our varied relationship with plants and flowers and how these living things are used to redefine our ever-changing urban landscapes. As we watch the seasons turn, subtle changes are observed in the store and the surrounding neighborhood.

Screenings

  • Metrograph Screening (2016)
  • Movies in La Marquetta (2016)
  • Northside Film Festival, Official Selection (2015)

Team

Samantha Richardson

Samantha Richardson

Sam Richardson is a photographer based in Brooklyn, New York. Her work focuses on the relationship between subject and photographer investigating questions of representation and agency. She is invested to using documentary as a format to explore these issues outside of traditional parameters or settings.

She is currently working as an Associate Producer on a documentary feature with Turly Pictures and works as a freelance photo editor and designer at Cavin Morris Gallery. She has actively volunteered and worked with Huairou Commission, a neighborhood women’s organization in Williamsburg. Richardson has exhibited her work in New York City, and was a UnionDocs Fellow from 2013-14. She has a BA in Photography and Human Rights (focus in Gender studies) from Bard College.

Danya Abt

Danya Abt

Danya Abt is a documentary director and editor based out of New York City. Her films have shown at the Detroit Institute of the Arts, Museum of Modern Art, Brooklyn Museum and have been distributed nationally. She has produced and edited work for the Financial Times, Reuters, the U.S. State Department, PBS and major network television. Directing commissions include Quel Souvenir, a 60-minute feature about the Chad-Cameroon Oil Pipeline and Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan, 3-days of live television for FreeSpeech TV. As Senior Video Producer for GritTV with Laura Flanders, she directed segments syndicated to a national audience via PBS. Recently Abt edited a feature film about the music/art group Fischerspooner and the web series Understudies, featured in IFP Film Week’s first ever Spotlight on Webseries during September 2014.

Elizabeth Warren

Elizabeth Warren

Elizabeth Delaune Warren is a Brooklyn based filmmaker, teacher, and activist. She is currently producing a feature length documentary and teaching filmmaking and media literacy throughout New York City. Elizabeth is a founding member of the nonprofit FILMMAKERS without BORDERS and holds an MA in International Affairs with an emphasis in Media and Culture from The New School.

Samantha Richardson

Samantha Richardson

Sam Richardson is a photographer based in Brooklyn, New York. Her work focuses on the relationship between subject and photographer investigating questions of representation and agency. She is invested to using documentary as a format to explore these issues outside of traditional parameters or settings.

She is currently working as an Associate Producer on a documentary feature with Turly Pictures and works as a freelance photo editor and designer at Cavin Morris Gallery. She has actively volunteered and worked with Huairou Commission, a neighborhood women’s organization in Williamsburg. Richardson has exhibited her work in New York City, and was a UnionDocs Fellow from 2013-14. She has a BA in Photography and Human Rights (focus in Gender studies) from Bard College.

Danya Abt

Danya Abt

Danya Abt is a documentary director and editor based out of New York City. Her films have shown at the Detroit Institute of the Arts, Museum of Modern Art, Brooklyn Museum and have been distributed nationally. She has produced and edited work for the Financial Times, Reuters, the U.S. State Department, PBS and major network television. Directing commissions include Quel Souvenir, a 60-minute feature about the Chad-Cameroon Oil Pipeline and Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan, 3-days of live television for FreeSpeech TV. As Senior Video Producer for GritTV with Laura Flanders, she directed segments syndicated to a national audience via PBS. Recently Abt edited a feature film about the music/art group Fischerspooner and the web series Understudies, featured in IFP Film Week’s first ever Spotlight on Webseries during September 2014.

Elizabeth Warren

Elizabeth Warren

Elizabeth Delaune Warren is a Brooklyn based filmmaker, teacher, and activist. She is currently producing a feature length documentary and teaching filmmaking and media literacy throughout New York City. Elizabeth is a founding member of the nonprofit FILMMAKERS without BORDERS and holds an MA in International Affairs with an emphasis in Media and Culture from The New School.

Credits

By Sam Richardson, Danya Abt & Elizabeth Delaune Warren

Featuring Nelly Xydous, Stylianos Xedous, Katyna Xedous, Eleny Xydous

And

Michelle Castellano, Jarett Gilbert, Victor Marrero, Paolo Mita, Angel Pellicier, Hassan Saleh, Praize Sanchezl, Saber Ventura, Chris and Asa Stewart, Gerrell Wilson, Cara

Special Thanks: 2013-2014 UnionDocs Collaborative Fellows, Aris Dilone, Lucila Moctezuma, Christopher Allen, Steve Holmgren & Toby Lee

UnionDocs Collaborative Studio Director: Toby Lee

UnionDocs Artistic Director: Christopher Allen

2013-2014 Collaborative Fellows: Alexandra Lazarowich, Anne-Katrine Hansen, Arisleyda Dilone, Chloe Zimmerman, Daniel Wilson, Danya Abt, Elizabeth Warren, Janna Kyllästinen, John Larson, Joyce Wong, Samantha Richardson, Stanzi Vaubel

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