Decade of Fire
Featured / Producer
Decade of Fire began as a curriculum on the history of Bronx activism that Julia developed in 2002 with Vivian Vázquez Irizarry, for incoming ninth graders at a public, social justice themed Bronx high school. It explored the relationship between the burning of the Bronx in the 1970’s, the cultural resistance movements of graffiti and hip hop, and the block-by-block community organizing that saved the borough. The curriculum was rejected for being too radical and was never taught.
Vivian was directly impacted as a child growing up in the South Bronx during the fires. She and Julia began talking extensively about the legacy of the burning, both for the survivors and for young people growing up in the Bronx today. They felt that the real story had never been told, and that it is a history with resonance for people living in cities all across the country, then and now.
In 2006 they revisited the idea and decided a film would be the most accessible way to bring the history to young audiences and make it come to life. In 2008, they partnered with documentary filmmaker Gretchen Hildebran and the three began working on the film. As first-time feature filmmakers, it was very difficult to secure funding or support. Finally, in 2015, Decade of Fire was one of ten films selected for the IFP Filmmaker Lab which opened industry doors and it was there that they met Chi-hui Yang of Ford Foundation’s Just Films, who became an instrumental supporter of the project.
The film premiered at DOC NYC in 2018, and went on to screen at 20 different film festivals, winning numerous awards. That spring, it had a month-long theatrical run at the Metrograph movie theater in Manhattan, and in Nov. 2019 had a national public broadcast on PBS/ Independent Lens where it was viewed and streamed over 2 million times.
Simultaneously, Julia organized the “Stay, Fight, Build” national community screening tour in partnership with 50 organizations across the country (including Puerto Rico.) It kicked-off with a roll-out across 12 NYC neighborhoods that were historically disinvested in and are now experiencing an intense housing crisis fueled by gentrification, speculation and development. Vivian traveled the country with the film from March 2019-March 2020.
Visit the Decade of Fire website and facebook page.
