The filmmaker Rodrigo Brandão is still working on the final edit, but run time will be about 25 minutes, followed by a community conversation.

The replanning of the Brooklyn Marine Terminal (BMT) has been a major and controversial issue since summer 2024 -- and as of July 25, 2025, we all that the process was on pause. Then, the afternoon of Thursday, September 18, we all learned that Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso and Councilmember Shahana Hanif and flipped and would vote yes and that a Task Force vote would be held on Monday, September 22. The Task Force voted to approve the EDC’s plans; and an uproar ensued. A Brooklyn Paper story about that is here.

Rodrigo Brandão filmmaker and Senior Director, Communications and Strategy at The Intercept has been documenting this saga since November 2024, and his short film will be the first one to tell the BMT story on video. The film includes coverage of PortSide NewYork -- and this premier is a fundraiser for us! It is also Rodrigo’s birthday, so make sure to join us at this event! The film was produced by Brandão, with the support of the Shape of Cities to Come Institute and Housing Narrative Lab.

Back story: See our BMT blogpost. May 14, 2024, the City and State announced that the Port Authority property from Pier 7 (Atlantic Avenue) to Wolcott Street (to Pier 12 and beyond) would become City property, a lot of Red Hook’s waterfront. The NYC Economic Development Corporation (EDC) is leading the planning process, and is managing the site since June 11, 2024, though it remains Port Authority property. The EDC’s process and proposals have been hugely controversial, a large target of the resistance being their proposal to add a lot of luxury condos, justified by the EDC as a way to pay for port upgrades (of a downsized port) and many promised community benefits. Concern to rage described most reactions. 

Many comparisons are being made to the effort to rezone Industry City in Sunset Park, which failed in the end, and is covered by the documentary Emergent City.

The Industry City saga involved some of the same characters as BMT: there Andrew Kimball was President of Industry City; here he is President of the EDC. There Alexa Aviles was an activist; here she is the Councilmember for part of the BMT footprint and co-chair of the BMT Task Force. There Marcela Mitaynes was an activist; here she is the NYS Assemblymember.

Part of a 3-film series “Rezoning History” hosted by PortSide at Strong Rope Brewery:

1. Thursday, October 9, 7-9pm: “Emergent City”
2. Wednesday, October 15, , 7-9pm: “Gowanus Current”
3. Tuesday, October 21, 7-9pm: “Bargaining with the Tide,” a new, still-in-the works documentary about the current BMT process by filmmaker Rodrigo Brandão