Union Street (2023)
1h 19m
Running Time
September 6, 2023Release Date
Plot.
Interspersing interviews with archival footage, Union Street documents the history of Vancouver’s Hogan’s Alley, the formerly Black neighbourhood which was destroyed by the construction of the Georgia viaduct in the 1970s. This local history speaks to systemic racial injustice towards Vancouver’s Black community that has continued to this day. Revelatory conversations are had in the film surrounding the erasure of Black history in Canada, and the proliferation of hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan which had chapters in Vancouver. Histories of now-closed Black-owned businesses in Hogan’s Alley such as Vie’s Chicken and Steakhouse have inspired a new generation of Black business owners in the neighbourhood, and the Black Lives Matter movement has reinvigorated discussion surrounding the destruction, as well as the history and memory of Hogan’s Alley. Beautifully filmed, this visual portrait speaks to the legacies of the past, as well as the present moment.
Where to Watch.
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Cast & Crew.
Jamila Pomeroy
Director
Pearl Low
Self
Mack Stannard
Producer
Amine Bouzaher
Composer
Liam Mitchell
Cinematographer
Details.
Wiki.
Union Street is a Canadian documentary film, directed by Jamila Pomeroy and released in 2023. The film centres on the history of the Hogan's Alley neighbourhood in Vancouver, British Columbia, a predominantly Black Canadian community which was demolished in the early 1970s in the name of urban renewal.
The film premiered at the 2023 Vancouver International Film Festival. It was subsequently screened at the Reelworld Film Festival, where Pomeroy won the award for best direction in a feature film.
In February 2024 it received a week-long run at the VIFF Centre, before being released to Telus's Optik streaming platform, TELUS originals, as part of Black History Month.