‘Loisada’ means ‘Lower East Side’ in New York slang. It’s also the name of the neighborhood where the community garden at Avenue C is located. I filmed this garden throughout different seasons at a time when I was a community gardener. Far from being a didactic documentary, my film is a personal experience, plastic, sonorous and poetic. Gardeners told me their day to day life outside the garden, and others, more reserved gave me recipes or told me about their favorite film, etc... Loisada Avenue C is a parable on the mixture of human and urban culture in New York, in an enclosed garden, a living place that knits social links between inhabitants in a lower income neighborhood. It’s a film about human nature and the quality of life. I made my film between 1998 and 1999 when I lived in New York. The interviews with the gardeners came first; it was my way of getting to know them. While walking from my home to the garden, I recorded the cacophony of ambient musical sounds that became a part of the city’s din. Later, I filmed in 16mm, Super 8, and also used a still camera.
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