The legendary Chelsea Hotel, an icon of 1960s counterculture—former residents and regulars have included Patti Smith, Jim Morrison and Robert Mapplethorpe—and an artists’ refuge for over a century, will soon reopen as a luxury hotel. After eight years of construction and living with scaffolding and constant building, some 51 residents prepare for imminent upheaval as others protest or hole up in their rooms. The film explores the utopian origins that contributed to the Chelsea’s mythical stature and questions the challenges it confronts in the future.
Director Maya Duverdier will be present at the first screening.
