J. Roy: New and Used Furniture

J. Roy: New and Used Furniture 1974

2.00

Buba introduces us to a Braddock entrepreneur who has failed at twelve businesses and is busy teaching would-be entrepreneurs self-confidence.

1974

Ghosts of Amistad - In the Footsteps of Rebels

Ghosts of Amistad - In the Footsteps of Rebels 2014

1

Ghosts of Amistad by Tony Buba is based on Marcus Rediker's The Amistad Rebellion: An Atlantic Odyssey of Slavery and Freedom (Penguin, 2012). It chronicles a journey to Sierra Leone in 2013 to visit the home villages of the rebels who captured the slave schooner Amistad, to interview elders about local memory of the incident, and to search for the long-lost ruins of Lomboko, the slave trading factory where their cruel transatlantic voyage began. The filmmakers rely on the knowledge of villagers, fishermen, and truck drivers to recover a lost history from below in the struggle against slavery, and to explore the African origins of the heroes of the Amistad incident.

2014

Washing Walls With Mrs. G

Washing Walls With Mrs. G 1980

1

Tony Buba trains his documentary lens on the washing of his 87-year-old grandmother’s kitchen walls, an annual ritual. While the filmmaker works diligently and mostly out of sight of the camera, his grandmother anchors the piece, recounting stories of her immigration from Italy in the 1940s, her first impressions of the United States, and her endearing love of Braddock.

1980

Shutdown

Shutdown 1975

1

An account of a 1975 independent truckers strike.

1975

Betty's Corner Cafe

Betty's Corner Cafe 1976

1

This short tells the story of a cafe where steel workers come to eat.

1976

Braddock Food Bank

Braddock Food Bank 1985

1

In this film, Buba struggles over whether he should make a film about a food bank, or just use the money to donate food to the bank. In the end, he leaves it up to the viewer.

1985

Birthday Party

Birthday Party 1985

1

A film which uses the device of developing Polaroid camera shots to present the highlights of a family celebration during the birthday of filmmaker Tony Buba.

1985

Home Movies

Home Movies 1980

1

A compilation of Tony Buba's home movies

1980

Peabody & Friends

Peabody & Friends 1983

1

The film follows a neighborhood guy who has never been quite the same since somersaulting out of the faulty sixth-story window of some shoddy subsidized housing.

1983

The Mill Hunk Herald

The Mill Hunk Herald 1981

1

A trip inside a Steel Valley workers’ magazine, which looks like raw material for a Bruce Springsteen song.

1981

Sweet Sal

Sweet Sal 1979

1

A portrait of a wiry, engaging street hustler, Sal Carulli, whose cocky patter breaks down at the end of the film, when he visits his father’s grave.

1979

To My Family

To My Family 1972

1

A short film featuring images of his grandfather’s just-demolished shoe-repair shop in 1972

1972