Brooklyn Film Festival: Su Friedrich’s Gut Renovation about Williamsburg

Su Friedrich is a name I remember from my days as an afficianado of experimental film back in the day. Which isn’t to say that she’s old. But she has been making films for a long time.

She’s accomplished and the recipient of many awards.

On Friday June 8 and Sunday June 10, the Brooklyn Film Festival will screen Gut Renovation, Su Friedrich’s epic personal film charting the destruction of Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

After living in the neighborhood for 20 years, Friedrich was one of many who were forced out after the city passed a rezoning plan allowing developers to build luxury condos where there were once thriving industries, working-class families, and artists.

Filmed over the course of many years, Gut Renovation is, according to the festival blurb: “a scathing portrait of one neighborhood’s demolition and transformation.”