Directors Steph Ching and Ellen Martinez with Actor Cynthia Nixon at DOC NYC
Exclusive Q&A by Brad Balfour, Arts Editor
In New York City, there’s nothing more traumatic than finding an affordable apartment in this day and age. Unless you make oodles of bucks, they’re never quite what they should be. In the doc “Slumlord Millionaire,” the film follows several stories about gentrification and the housing crisis. There’s the struggle of the Bravo family who have been in a legal battle with their landlord for five years.
Janina Davis, a former supermodel, tells of trying to reclaim her home after a deed theft scam. Ren Ping Chen, a resident of Manhattan Chinatown, fears his historic community may disappear after the construction of four luxury towers.
And there’s Moumita Ahmed whose city council campaign was viciously targeted by real estate developer billionaires. Each tale is a David vs. Goliath type battle that clearly exposes the human toll of gentrification.
The median rent nationwide has surpassed $2,000 per month for the first time in U.S. history. In NYC, the rent in Manhattan is now an unbelievable $5,000 per month and experts predict it will only get worse.
As rents increase, some landlords have become more aggressive in trying to get long-term tenants to move out of their homes. They ignore repairs, turn off heat and gas, and do nothing to eliminate vermin infestations. The landlord’s goal is to make the apartment so uninhabitable that residents are forced out and the landlord can deregulate the apartment and turn it over to market rate for a huge profit.
These actions drive up costs in this already unaffordable housing market, and such acts displace families who make up the fabric of the neighborhood, changing communities forever.
Directed by Steph Ching and Ellen Martinez, the film made its debut at DOC NYC last year. It’s had an extended life not only by being shown on PBS, but it also has had many special screenings since it addresses issues that have figured prominently in this year’s mayoral election.
Recently, these acclaimed directors (DOC NYC “40 Under 40” honorees) conducted a discussion after a special screening of their powerful doc at the Museum of Moving Image (36-01 35th Avenue Astoria, NY 11106) on Thursday, September 25th. Besides the director/producers Ching and Martinez the film participants — Samantha Bravo-Huertero, Janina Davis, Alina Shen, and Sebastian Martin — were all participating as well.
Q: Talk about the film’s genesis given its sprawling concept.
Ellen Martinez: We have both lived in New York for about 20 years and know from experience that finding an apartment in the city can be a nightmare. Today we both live in Brooklyn and Steph’s family has lived in Park Slope for three generations. She has seen her neighborhood transform more and more rapidly each year. Seeing neighbors being priced out and families that have lived here for decades being forced to leave the neighborhood has been disheartening.
When we started doing research for this film in 2019, we were disturbed to hear about the extremely predatory tactics and blatant discrimination that some landlords use to harass and displace long-term, rent paying tenants. Not only were some landlords turning off essential services like heat or hot water, ignoring repairs, ignoring infestations and other harassment, but these tactics were widespread and in direct correlation with gentrification in neighborhoods across the city. It seemed illegal, but because of well-worn loopholes built into the city’s judicial system, they were able to get away with it.
We wanted to make a film that explores the root causes of these issues and the systems that allow this to continue to happen. Each story in the film could have been their own separate documentary but we wanted to include them together to show the magnitude and interconnectivity of this crisis.
Q: How did you two narrow the focus?
Ellen Martinez: At the beginning of our research we were mainly focused on the landlord harassment stories where people were being deliberately targeted by the landlord to try to get them to move out of their apartment. We met the Bravo family in 2019. We wanted to know how can landlords continue to get away with this level of abuse? This question led us to the other stories in the film – politics (and its financing), the housing court system, community erasure and the value of home ownership are all interconnected and a part of the larger system that allows this to continue to happen.
We wanted to make a film to connect the dots and all four stories are interwoven to show how the system is actually built to perpetuate this crisis. While the experiences of the people featured in the film are set here in New York City, these stories are a microcosm for these issues in the United States and around the world.
Q: How much did the topic affect you personally?
Ellen Martinez: Today, we both live in Brooklyn, in two of the fastest gentrifying neighborhoods in the country. Steph’s family has lived in Park Slope for three generations and she has seen her neighborhood transform more and more rapidly each year. One of the things that make cities like NYC so special are the communities that welcome everyone. When Steph’s family immigrated to the States in the 1960s from Hong Kong, they found support and belonging in Chinatown. To see the neighborhood slowly and systematically be erased by mass gentrification is devastating.
This story is repeated in so many historically Black, Brown, and other multicultural neighborhoods. Now as we walk down the street past the new condos and luxury buildings being built we wonder how many families have been unjustly displaced. We hope viewers walk away from this film with a new awareness of the tactics being used by bad landlords and the human cost of development and a changing neighborhood.
Q: What made you think you could manage such an unwieldy subject and wrangle it into a comprehensible story?
Ellen Martinez: We wanted to explore the systemic issues with the housing crisis and how this affects people’s daily lives. We received early funding from Latino Public Broadcasting and knew this was going to be a PBS production. We did a lot of research and spent time speaking with all of our participants and housing experts as we settled on the four stories. This research was important to us and we wanted to make an informative yet engaging character driven documentary. Unfortunately with the recent cuts to PBS these types of social issue films are going to become even harder to produce.
Q: What did you do to structure it?
Ellen Martinez: It was an ongoing challenge to balance the multiple stories with the context. Our goal was to create a character driven film that focused on the participants and their personal stories. We also wanted the film to serve as an entry point to understand the interconnected systems that perpetuate this housing crisis. Throughout the edit process, we let the individual participants’ stories guide the action and perspective of the film while always making sure to connect it to explanations of the laws, politics, and circumstances that surround their stories – and others like them.
Q: What led you to focus on the people you did?
Ellen Martinez: Each one of the stories could have made their own separate documentary but it was important for us to show them together to connect the dots and show how multiple systems perpetuate this crisis. Everyone in the film is so courageous, inspiring and really wonderful and we’re so grateful they all trusted us and wanted to share their stories on screen.
Q: How long did it take to make?
Ellen Martinez: We started development in late 2019 and filmed with the community organization Neighbors Helping Neighbors where we met the Bravo family. We of course had to pause because of the pandemic but during this time we were able to fundraise. In early 2022 we officially started production and premiered the film at DOC NYC in November 2024.
Q: How long did it take to edit it — how many hours did you have to whittle down?
Ellen Martinez: We had hundreds of hours of footage to work with. We started editing while we were still in production and the edit took about two years. Because we are based in NYC, we had the benefit of being able to film more easily and on short notice, but that also created a lot more footage. Also, as we followed some stories over the years, we had to consistently re-edit parts of the film to update stories as developments happened.
Q: Lots of doc directors are torn between filmmaking and activism. How about you and your partners?Ellen Martinez: We’re filmmakers not activists, we’re proud to highlight the work of these incredible activists in the film but our focus is on the story and the human connections. As we’re seeing in the NYC mayoral election, housing justice and affordability are top issues for the city. Our film documents the real struggle millions of people are dealing with that lead to this movement today.
Q: Were you filmmakers first then as an activist?
Ellen Martinez: We consider ourselves filmmakers not activists.
Q: How has it changed your life’s trajectory?
Ellen Martinez: We’re really happy that the film is out – it’s available now on PBS, Prime Video, Apple TV and Xfinity Comcast. We’ve had a lot of really engaging screenings in NYC and it’s clear this issue affects everyone. We hope it can continue to have an impact and want to make the film available for more community screenings in NYC and across the country. If you’re interested in partnering please reach out at www.slumlordmillionairefilm.com.
Unfortunately with the recent cuts to PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting this is PBS VOCES last community event ever. Now more than ever is the time to support public broadcasting, this film would not have been made without them.
Q: Talk about your future plans.
Ellen Martinez: We’re excited to be hosting screenings around the city with housing justice organizations.
[There will be a “Slumlord Millionaire” Screening and Director Talk on Tuesday, October 8th, starting 6 pm at City College of NY, Shepard Hall Rm 291.]