Monday, Oct. 30, 2023 at 11 p.m. on KPBS TV / PBS App
POV, exposes–in real time–institutional neglect experienced by a group of disabled Black and brown artists on lockdown inside Coler Specialty Hospital, a New York City rehabilitation and nursing center, during the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic in "Fire Through Dry Grass".
Co-directed by one of the residents, Andres “Jay” Molina (feature debut), and Alexis Neophytides, the documentary follows Jay and his fellow Reality Poets as they fight the city to protect the lives of 500 vulnerable nursing home residents. Animated sections of their poetry highlight the danger and imprisonment they feel—and their refusal to be abused, confined, and erased by a system that acts as if their lives don’t matter.
Through the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment’s Made in New York (MINY) campaign, out-of-home advertising placements promoting "Fire Through Dry Grass" will run in subways across New York City from Oct. 16 through Nov. 12, 2023.
In "Fire Through Dry Grass" co-directors Molina and Neophytides take viewers inside Coler, a nursing home on Roosevelt Island, where Jay lives with his fellow Reality Poets. Wearing snapback caps and Air Jordans, Jay and the other Reality Poets don’t look like typical nursing home residents. They used to travel around the city sharing their art and hard-earned wisdom with youth as part of a network of artists, activists and advocates motivated by community building, gun violence prevention and disability rights.
Now, using GoPros clamped to their wheelchairs, they document their harrowing experiences on lockdown. COVID-positive patients are moved into their bedrooms; nurses fashion PPE out of garbage bags; refrigerated-trailer morgues hum outside residents’ windows. All the while public officials deny the suffering and dying behind Coler’s brick walls.
The Reality Poets’ rhymes flow throughout the film, underscoring their feelings that their home is now as dangerous as the streets they once ran and—as summer turns to fall turns to winter—that they’re prisoners without a release date. But instead of history repeating itself on this tiny island with a dark history of institutional neglect and abandonment, co-directors Neophytides and Molina show these disabled Black and brown artists refusing to be ignored.
"Fire Through Dry Grass" paints a human-scale portrait of the devastation inflicted upon American nursing home residents during the coronavirus pandemic, in particular people of color, immigrants, and formerly incarcerated people. The circumstances they are documenting show how toxic ideas that certain lives matter less, and are a threat, have penetrated long-term care. In solidarity with the Black Lives Matter protests erupting in the streets, the film’s disabled Black and brown protagonists launch Nursing Home Lives Matter.
Filmmaker Quotes:
“I want people to understand who lives in nursing homes, and for us to be recognized for our talents and skills in front of, and behind, the camera.” said Co-Director Andres “Jay” Molina.
Alexis Neophytides, the film’s other Co-Director added: “As the history of Covid is being put into the public record, it feels very important that this story told by Black and brown disabled nursing home residents is part of that record. I can think of no better place than public television to have our film broadcast, reaching millions of people across the country with no barriers to access.”
Join the Movement: Support the Nursing Home Lives Matter Bill of Rights
Film Award:
“Fire Through Dry Grass” made its world premiere at the 2023 BlackStar Film Festival in Philadelphia where the film won the Jury Award for Best Feature Documentary.
The jury commented: “The feature documentary jury-award winning film stands strong as an investigative report with its concise clarity and unique perspective, yet it’s also stylized beautifully as a tapestry that weaves the characters together. With its brilliant approach, the jury wishes to recognize the many challenges these filmmakers faced in these conditions during this time period, yet made a film with elevated sound design, compelling cinematography, and phenomenal characters.”
Watch On Your Schedule:
"Fire Through Dry Grass" makes its national broadcast premiere on POV, Monday, Oct. 30, 2023 and will be available to stream with the PBS App until Jan. 30, 2024 at pbs.org, and the PBS App
In addition to standard closed captioning for the film, POV, in partnership with audio description service DiCapta, provides real time audio interpretations for audiences with sensory disabilities.
Join The Conversation: "Fire Through Dry Grass" on Facebook / Instagram
Credits: A co-production of The Big Chair Inc, American Documentary | POV, and ITVS with funding provided by Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). The film is co-directed by Andres “Jay” Molina and Alexis Neophytides and produced by Jennilie Brewster and Alexis Neophytides. The executive producers are Sara Bolder, Jim LeBrecht, and Erika Dilday and Chris White for American Documentary | POV. The co-producers are Peter Yearwood and Sarah Feuquay. The cinematographers are Andres “Jay” Molina and Alexis Neophytides. The editors are M'Daya Meliani and Diana Diroy.
