Throughout her long and fruitful career, director Nina Rosenblum has made films for HBO, PBS, Showtime, ABC, and numerous others, been nominated for an Oscar, and befriended the likes of Susan Sarandon and Jason Robards. Her latest film, co-directed and produced by her husband and partner Daniel Allentuck, is a beautifully realized exploration of the Photo League, a politically-motivated documentary photography movement that changed the face of the artform forever. The film, Ordinary Miracles: The Photo League’s New York, has been lauded by critics and screened all over the United States, doing week-long runs at The Quad Cinema in New York City and Los Angeles’ famed Laemmle NOHO. Narrated by the actor Campbell Scott, the film is, according to The New York Times, “a great, often inspiring story. . . it’s pretty wonderful to listen to these extraordinary artists, some of whom have since died, recall how they headed into New York’s streets and discovered a world.” And The L.A. Times calls it “a provocative portrait of social photography.” Among the famed shooters the film profiles are the legends Berenice Abbot, Ruth Orkin, Aaron Siskind, Dorothea Lange, and the crime-happy Weegee. In existence from 1936 to 1951, the Photo League’s members captured the realities of urban existence and growth – documenting the growth of Harlem, the immigrant stories of the Lower East Side, and children romping around Coney Island – as well as international stories like the World War II experience. Simultaneously an artfully crafted piece of cinema and an important historical document, Ordinary Miracles is now available, via The Orchard, on iTunes.
