Events
New film offers eye-opening look at New Jersey’s largest city
Springtime cherry blossoms. Stately houses of worship and historic structures rising above a city skyline. Baseball, art, and foods from around the world. Sound like Washington? Think again. This is Newark, a city that many people know of – but few people actually know.
“The Once and Future Newark,” a new film hosted by historian Clement A. Price, should change all that. The documentary will premier on NJN Public Television October 4, at 6:30 p.m., and will be rebroadcast October 5 at 9 p.m. The film, produced by Rutgers-Newark in association with Blackbird Media Group, will be previewed on the Newark campus Sunday, October 1, and Wednesday, October 4, and feature a question-and-answer session with Price.
The program follows Price as the Newark resident tours the city with colleagues, visiting 18 historical, cultural, and, in some cases, uniquely Newark sites. These include Branch Brook Park, the Ironbound, Weequahic High School, the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Essex County Courthouse, and Rutgers’ Newark campus, where Price is Board of Governors Distinguished Service Professor specializing in urban history, African-American history, and New Jersey and Newark history.
Price has led tours of Newark for decades, inspiring students, educators, and others to be fascinated by Newark’s past and the promises of its future. Many who tour the city with Price have gone on to develop a personal connection to Newark.
“The growing interest in the new Newark that is taking shape has truly heartened my role as a New Jersey and public historian,” Price said. “The film enables me to reach thousands of people who live, work, and study in Newark; those who left the city years ago; and, to be sure, those who deserve an opportunity to better understand New Jersey's largest and most important regional center.”
The film is “part travelogue, part documentary, and part history lesson,” said Helen Paxton, the film’s producer and director of communications at Rutgers-Newark. “The goal is to engage viewers’ interest for personal exploration and discovery.”
Newark Provost Steven J. Diner said that Rutgers has always viewed the city of Newark as one of its greatest educational assets. “By showcasing the city’s rich history and resources, ‘The Once and Future Newark’ should help spread the good word about Newark far beyond this university campus and the city’s borders,” Diner said.
In addition to the NJN broadcasts (check local listings for broadcast channels), free campus screenings are scheduled. On October 1, a continuous screening of the half-hour film will run from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Paul Robeson Gallery as part of the Rutgers-Newark Homecoming celebration. An October 4 presentation, featuring the q-and-a session with Price, will take place in Room 100 of Conklin Hall at 2:30 p.m.
For additional information on the film, including information on how to purchase the DVD, click here.
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