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Fire Through Dry Grass

Play trailer Poster for Fire Through Dry Grass 2023 1h 29m Documentary Play Trailer Watchlist
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Fire Through Dry Grass uncovers in real-time the devastation experienced by residents of a New York City nursing home during the coronavirus pandemic. Co-Directors Alexis Neophytides and Andres "Jay" Molina take viewers inside Coler, on Roosevelt Island, where Jay lives with his fellow Reality Poets, a group of mostly gun violence survivors. 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. Now, using GoPros clamped to their wheelchairs, they document their harrowing experiences on "lock down". 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, Fire Through Dry Grass shows these disabled Black and brown artists refusing to be abused, confined, erased.

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Fire Through Dry Grass

Critics Reviews

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Concepción de León New York Times 09/30/2023
It’s a powerful reminder of how defining and devastating the pandemic was, and gives space to those whose voices were long ignored. Go to Full Review Read all reviews
Fire Through Dry Grass

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Cast & Crew

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Andres Jay Molina

Director

Alexis Neophytides

Director

Jennilie Brewster

Producer

Alexis Neophytides

Producer

Sara Bolder

Executive Producer

James Lebrecht

Executive Producer
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Fire Through Dry Grass

Fire Through Dry Grass (2023) Fire Through Dry Grass (2023) View more photos

Movie Info

Synopsis Fire Through Dry Grass uncovers in real-time the devastation experienced by residents of a New York City nursing home during the coronavirus pandemic. Co-Directors Alexis Neophytides and Andres "Jay" Molina take viewers inside Coler, on Roosevelt Island, where Jay lives with his fellow Reality Poets, a group of mostly gun violence survivors. 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. Now, using GoPros clamped to their wheelchairs, they document their harrowing experiences on "lock down". 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, Fire Through Dry Grass shows these disabled Black and brown artists refusing to be abused, confined, erased.
Director
Andres Jay Molina, Alexis Neophytides
Producer
Jennilie Brewster, Alexis Neophytides
Distributor
ITVS
Production Co
The Big Chair
Genre
Documentary
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Sep 29, 2023, Limited
Runtime
1h 29m