A new documentary delving into the lives of residents at a Columbia Pike affordable housing complex made its debut on Saturday.
“We Are Barcroft: A 60-Acre History of People & Place,” seeks to preserve the stories of people who came to the Barcroft Apartments from around the globe.
Filmmaker Dewey Tron screened the 45-minute film at Columbia Pike Library in partnership with Studio PAUSE, a multicultural arts space in the Barcroft community that commissioned the documentary.
“I wanted to know my community and I wanted to know stories of other people,” said Sushmita Mazumdar, who brought Studio PAUSE to Columbia Pike in 2023.
Tron, one several noted photojournalists chronicling the corridor as part of the Columbia Pike Documentary Project over the past quarter-century, said he enjoyed the creative challenge of putting together the video.
“I experimented with different styles,” he said, ranging from “quirky and fun” takes on some subjects to a more introspective approach with others.
Mazumdar said Tron had the freedom to tackle the project as he saw fit.
“It was amazing watching him work, how he turned our interviews into these beautiful, poetic videos,” she said.
People profiled in the film hail from Bangladesh, Nepal, Morocco, Bolivia, Puerto Rico and the United States. They include Ronald J. Smith, Ruben D. Sira, Eva Sejas Aranburo, Nanzeen Akter, Marco Herrada, Claudia Camacho and Sarah Manrique Chiriboga, plus childhood friends Yassmine and Samita.
Columbia Pike is Arlington’s equivalent to the Bronx in New York City, said Chiriboga, who grew up at Barcroft Apartments and still lives in the corridor.
“It’s a melting pot where everybody comes together and gets along,” she said.
For three decades, Sejas Aranburo has been proprietor of Cassiel’s, a hair salon in Barcroft that bears her granddaughter’s name. Originally from Bolivia, she said the experience of moving to the local area was challenging but rewarding.
“I love and adore the country, because it has given my children everything,” she said. “We have what we need to get by. We’re not lacking anything.”
At the same time, Sejas Aranburo worries about what the future might bring to the neighborhood.
“Arlington has grown. It has grown plenty,” she said in the film. “Things have gone up in price — houses, everything. I don’t know what will become of us.”
Arlington County’s historic preservation grant program funded the documentary. Portions of the film are available online but the weekend screening was the first time the full version had been screened in public.
Those attending the screening also had the opportunity to view the art exhibition “Me, Here, on Columbia Pike: Stories of People & Place.”
Another initiative of Studio PAUSE, the exhibition features works by artists Delores Fischer-Jenkins, Girasol O’Neill, Kenneth Krafcheck, the Regmi family and Akter, with poetry by Mazumdar and Smith.
The exhibition, which will run through August at the library, previously was on display at the Festival Latinoamericano held at Arlington Mill Community Center.
The exhibition also was funded by a county grant. Its placement at Columbia Pike Library is part of an effort to increase the amount and variety of exhibitions at the county’s eight libraries.
