Max partnered with Rooftop Films and NewFest Pride to generate conversation and buzz around the new HBO Original Documentary, The Stroll. Our goal was to center the voices and stories of the film’s subjects and their community, bringing awareness to the documentary’s themes surrounding NYC's historic Meatpacking District and trans sex workers of color.
HBO’s The Stroll explores the experiences of trans sex workers of color living in NYC through the early 2000s, highlighting the detrimental effects that displacement through gentrification of the Meatpacking District has had on trans sex workers’ lives.
On June 5th, Max, Rooftop FIlms, and NewFest Pride partnered to execute an outdoor screening of The Stroll in the heart of the Meatpacking District, Gansevoort Plaza to bring awareness to substantial changes that have occurred in the neighborhood over the years – spotlighting the role the district played in the history of trans and sex worker rights and providing an opportunity for a communal celebration of the new documentary at the start of Pride Month in NYC. Ultimately, curating a site-specific screening in the historic Meatpacking District gave the film’s trans subjects and their community the opportunity to reclaim a space in which they were displaced.
We ensured that trans women were at the center of our screening and afterparty event. The screening featured a live musical performance by drag artist Egyptt LeBeija and the after party, held at the Whitney Museum (curated by film subjects Ceyenne Doroshow and Cecelia Gentili) included remarks by film directors Kristen Lovell & Zackary Drucker, sets by NYC-based DJ br0nz3_g0dd3ss, and musical performances by local trans artists.
Screening HBO’s The Stroll in the historic, gentrified Meatpacking District gave the documentary’s subjects, trans sex workers, the platform to symbolically reclaim a space in which they had been displaced. Through our screening and afterparty event, we were able to center trans Black women, whose voices are often silenced – even during Pride. Over 1000 people attended the screening and our efforts garnered press coverage from the New York Times.
