The New Los Angeles

film_158
Produced by: Lyn Goldfarb

56 min. Color. 2005.

Captioned: Yes

Catalog #: 0151

Price: $250.00

Quantity:
Streaming License Information
Apply for discount

Product Description

This engaging documentary explores the complexities of inclusion in Los Angeles — the nation’s largest “majority-minority” city and the city with the nation’s largest divide between rich and poor. The film provides a riveting portrait of a city in often turbulent transition, beginning in 1973 with the election of Mayor Tom Bradley — the first African-American mayor of a major city without a black majority — and concluding with the political empowerment of Latinos and the election of Antonio Villaraigosa, Los Angeles’s first Latino mayor in more than 130 years.

“The New Los Angeles” looks beyond the Hollywood dreamscape to a dynamic new city, one grappling with the same issues that are becoming commonplace throughout the nation: immigration, globalization, de-industrialization, economic inequality, and a shrinking middle class. The film 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 of Los Angeles accountable to its residents.

“The New Los Angeles” explores the shifting political ground that is shaping the nation’s future and proving that the American dream remains a powerful motivator. This is a story about forging coalitions, nurturing inclusion, seeding innovation, salvaging identity, and building community — a story that resonates to every corner of contemporary America.

The film is essential viewing in courses in sociology, American studies, ethnic studies, political science, public policy, and urban studies. It was directed by award-winning filmmaker Lyn Goldfarb. It is the third part of the four-part series, California and the American Dream.

For information on the other films in the series, see:

California’s “Lost” Tribes The Price of Renewal Ripe for Change