The Prior Occupants of Westbeth Are Just Beyond Reach
A little more legibility would've benefited Alison Nguyen's fragmented short film about the famed NYC artists' housing complex.
Near the start of the High Line in Manhattan, a short film screening to the public above 14th Street dances around the history of the Westbeth Artists Housing complex, a stone's throw away from the park. While clearly drawn from extensive research and intrigue, Alison Nguyen's 14-minute film “Prior Occupants” (2026) skates on vague fragments of information that do better to incite curiosity rather than illustrate outright.
Have you ever sat through a lecture while feverishly looking up the keywords being mentioned to appear less woefully out of the loop? Nguyen begins by paging through confidential files attributed to the American industrial development company Bell Laboratories, but does little to explain their significance beyond fleeting references to the company's involvement in the Manhattan Project and developing components for ballistic missiles.
