About the Film
Takeover explores the twelve historic hours on July 14, 1970, in which fifty members of the Young Lords Party stormed the dilapidated Lincoln Hospital in the South Bronx, drove out their administrative staff, barricaded entrances and windows, and made their cries for decent healthcare known to the world. They raised the Puerto Rican flag atop the building, as well as a banner reading “The People’s Hospital” - a nom de guerre still used today. Through archival footage, seamless reenactments, and modern-day interviews, the film follows the Young Lords’ resistance against institutions curated by wealth and white supremacy, and their fight for the most basic of human rights: the right to accessible, quality healthcare.
Takeover made its world premiere at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival. The film has been shown at AFI Fest, the Montclair Film Festival, the International Puerto Rican Heritage Film Festival, and many others, and has also screened with the IDA Screening Series and at museums, cultural centers, educational institutions and hospitals across New York City. It is currently distributed by New York Times Op-Docs, where it began streaming on October 12th, 2021.
Takeover is nominated for a News & Documentary Emmy Award for Outstanding Short Documentary, and was shortlisted for Best Documentary Short Subject at the 94th Academy Awards as well as the IDA Documentary Awards and Cinema Eye Honors.
Watch the trailer:
From the Director:
“As a director, I want to share positive stories of resistance. I am constantly in awe of the strength, courage, and resilience of ordinary people who stand for change. In my work, I want to celebrate the collective successes and progress in our society, and shed light on the real-life sacrifices that took place for basic human rights. Understanding why and how people risked their lives for others, in a world in which profit and power seem the arbiter of success, is ultimately what I want my work to be about; to communicate through cinema, to create films that can serve as agents of inspiration and change. I strive to shape the world we live in to be one that provides all people with the ability to move through life with dignity.”
- Takeover Director Emma Francis-Snyder