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.
In Manhattan, near the beginning of the High Line, a brief public screening above 14th Street offers a glimpse into the history of the Westbeth Artists Housing complex. The 14-minute film, "Prior Occupants" (2026), by Alison Nguyen, draws on extensive research but leaves viewers with more questions than answers. The film waxes poetic on fragments of information that are tantalizingly evocative, yet not fully elucidated.
Nguyen opens her presentation with a perusal of confidential files, believed to belong to the American industrial development company Bell Laboratories. However, she does little to illuminate the true importance of these documents beyond passing mentions of Bell Laboratories' role in the Manhattan Project and in manufacturing ballistic missile components.
A scene from the film shows one of several original files from the Bell Telecommunication Company's research archives at Columbia University's Rare Books and Manuscripts Library. Yet, the film falls short in providing a comprehensive understanding of the documents' relevance to the complex's past.
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