The Stoop

Alexandra Schwimmer

Award-winning documentarian and New York City historian Alexandra Schwimmer grew up in lower Manhattan hearing family stories of Old New York. The ability to observe and record the life of her family, neighborhood, and city translate well into a profession documenting oral histories. Attending the United Nations International School from the age of four, Schwimmer's view of the globe was enhanced by the myriad nationalities, cultures and languages she was immersed in through high school. She earned her International Bachelaureate Diploma and went on to achieve a Bachelor of Arts from New York University in 2006, followed by a Columbia University Masters of Arts in American Studies in 2009. While at Columbia, Schwimmer completed a Masters Thesis under the mentorship of the School of Architecture and Planning on the topic of "Stoop Culture in New York City Neighborhoods". The years of research on this topic and self-conducted interviews translated seamlessly into THE STOOP, Schwimmer's current feature length documentary film.

THE STOOP was been nominated at The Big Apple Film Festival 2013, where it was awarded the Mitchell D. Bernstein NYC Cityscape Award, screening at the TriBeCa Cinemas.

THE STOOP was an Official Selection at The Red Hook Film Festival 2013, and the New Filmmaker Anthology Film Archives Summer Series 2013.

The film features Brooklyn Borough President Marty Marcowitz, NBC's "Talk Stoop" hostess Cat Greenleaf, Larry Silverstein, and Howard Rubenstein.

Cityscape Award

VERTICAL VILLAGE explores the impact of New York's Powerbroker Robert Moses as exemplified through the history of the Seward Park Housing Co-op on Manhattan's Lower East Side. The film includes an exclusive interview with New York State Speaker Sheldon Silver, a lifelong Lower East Sider. VERTICAL VILLAGE was an Official Selection at the Big Apple Film Festival, screening at the TriBeCa Cinemas in 2010. VERTICAL VILLAGE was also an Official Selection at The Manhattan Film Festival and screened at Symphony Space in 2011.

verticalvillagedocumentary.com

Schwimmer brought together the nationwide oral histories of women who fought World War Two from the home front, including filming and conduction interviews at the annual Rosie the Riveter Convention in Nashville, Tennessee. These oral histories are housed in the permanent collection at New York University's Tamiment Labor Archive, where they are available to scholars and the public.

Leading tours as an Educator at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, where Schwimmer taught New York City immigration history to school groups and the public.

As a Head Writer for iPhone's Time Shutter New York application, Schwimmer wrote captions on the historical background and unique stories of New York City's building sites, parks, statues, and the skyline.

Feature articles published in the SoHo Journal on the long history of pre-Civil War manufacturing buildings in landmarked districts in lower Manhattan and real estate trends such as uptown moving back downtown.

Alexandra Schwimmer conducts all of her interviews in the style of an oral history, gathering the unique stories of New Yorkers and the fabric of their neighborhoods for future generations. She continues to live in the same neighborhood she grew up in.