in new york s washington heights neighbourhood. the film was released this year. he has now directed his first movie, tick tick boom, starring andrew garfield, and it is a musical about the late jonathan lar5on, the talented composer behind the musical rent, who longs to achieve something of note by his 30th birthday. i know that i worked really hard to get good at writing musicals and that skill set was helpful to me in several ways, because of course what you know you don t know and i learned a lot on this which i will bring me hopefully to the next one, but musicals are like real life but more fun. and a desire to see a better version
we presented west side story, the 1951 movie, on the plaza at lincoln center. it was the biggest crowd that had ever had gathered on the plaza at lincoln center for this summer evening screening and the audience looked like the city of new york, people of all ages and backgrounds coming together to watch this movie for free on a friday night and i presented the film that evening and talking about how this neighbourhood had been demolished to make way for the places we were standing and it was a testament to the legacy of this film that people still want to come out and watch it together, talk about it and explore the issues that it raises. # that love is your life #.
one of the things that is very interesting to me in considering west side story is that it grapples with not only how this neighbourhood was demolished and raised and what that might have meant to black and brown new yorkers who lived on these blocks, it also grapples with some really specific tensions in our own city, in new york city, many of which are still relevant today. and the movie gives a way to think about and reflect on the moment in which west side story was created. in the 505, in new york, at a time when there was tension and turmoil, at a time when this neighbourhood that we are sitting in right now was demolished to make a space for what we are looking at as we sit here. five or six years ago,
since films began? i m not saying that we did anything as a countermeasure to that movie, but many, many productions of west side story have very multiracial cast5 where the sharks are played by talent, the kind of kids who can sing and dance and that is all that qualifies them. we just wanted for this movie to get it right in the way that we wanted every single person who plays a puerto rican to be from the latin community and that was a mandate from the get go. i happen to live here on 110th st in upper manhattan and where i am, it is the official boundary between the upper west side and harlem. so, why am i telling you this? because i m new to the neighbourhood, i m very excited to learn that key scenes in the opening prologue of the original 1961 west side story movie were shot right here on this playground. in fact, 5everal new york city
presence gave the city a big psychological boost, especially in the washington heights neighbourhood, where the world premiere of the festival s opening night film in the heights was held. # imma a fly this flag above my head. this lavish musical set in the dominican community in washington heights is based on lin manuel miranda s award winning broadway stage musical. it is centred on a bodega or grocery store owner who dreams of a better life. this story is told through the scope of a neighbourhood, a neighbourhood like any other neighbourhood that is so often overlooked, but is filled with people that have contributed so much to this country, and you get to see those people dream as big as anyone you have ever seen dream on a screen. woefully underrepresented in american mainstream cinema, many latinos hope that in the heights, if successful, would bring forth greater opportunities.