On Thursday, October 13th the Portuguese community in New Bedford had the opportunity to view a film screening of “Portuguese from SoHo”, a documentary about the history of the Portuguese emigrants living in the neighborhood of SoHo in Manhattan, New York. The event was held at the New Bedford Whaling Museum and organized by the Portuguese Consulate in New Bedford, with the collaboration of the Arte Institute.
The film focuses on the History of the Portuguese emigrants that settled in the SoHo neighborhood in Manhatan after World War II. Through the interesting stories of a few Portuguese who stayed in this part of the city until our days, we were able to see the working and living conditions that many faced when they first arrived.The documentary is a true demonstration of how the Portuguese community was able to quickly adapt to the new living situations and how they got organized as a community against many setbacks and barriers, such
as language, poor working and housing conditions, and their difficulties of integration into the neighborhood. In this documentary we can follow the history of the SoHo’s neighborhood and the evolution of New York city from the 50’s and 60’s until our days. Congratulations to the Arte Institute for this great production.
The Consul of Portugal in New Bedford, Pedro Carneiro, welcomed everyone and on his opening remarks he thanked Ana Miranda, director, and the Arte Institute for the collaboration and for the efforts of bringing this documentary to the community in New Bedford. He also recognized his staff for the hard work done at the consular office and for their support to all cultural and educational events realized in the Community.
Ana Miranda presented the Arte Institute to the audience and mentioned the excellent work done by the Arte Institute team in this production. She also had the opportunity to share some aspects of this documentary and her experiences while interviewing the Portuguese emigrants from SoHo.
The Arte Institute was founded on 11 April 2011 to promote culture and showcase art from Portugal. It is a space that offers a creative environment for Portuguese artists in the field of art, literature, music, dance and film. It serves as a platform for inter-cultural inspiration and as a catalyst for an innovative artistic dialogue between the many communities in New York and Portuguese artists.
Teaser _ Portuguese from SoHo from Arte Institute on Vimeo.
