Before Hoboken was luxury condos and million-dollar rents, it was fires, displacement and lives lost.
Paper Cinema is developing a film inspired by the real events surrounding the Hoboken fires of the early 1980s, a period many have described as "gentrification by fire."
The story
Set in Hoboken in 1982, the film follows Delia, a fictional investigative reporter who uncovers a deadly conspiracy targeting the city's Puerto Rican community. Through her story, it explores the displacement, intimidation and silence of the era, blending historical reality with dramatized events.
Part of a longer conversation
Artists and historians have examined these events for years, including:
- Delivered Vacant (1992), directed by Nora Jacobson
- "The Fires: Hoboken 1978–1982," an exhibition by Christopher López presented by the Hoboken Historical Museum
- Community oral history projects and documentary-style performances
The film continues that work, using cinema to confront a chapter of Hoboken's past that still echoes today.
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