DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

“It takes a village.”

My co-producer Jenny and I had been filming in Chelsea on another project for a little under a year when we decided to make a film about the CHELSEA EATS program. Although the CHELSEA EATS story was to focus on policy questions about a direct cash assistance program, we knew the film had to reflect the heart of Chelsea’s close-knit community, a majority Latinx, immigrant, working-class New England city, too often overlooked and ignored by its neighbors.

The story of Chelsea – a city of essential workers – resonated with me because my father was an immigrant essential worker. And during this production, I lost my father to dementia. Filming in Chelsea was, in many ways, my refuge. For me, it was a way to honor him through my work, in a way that had never been possible before. And as a Latina, I recognized these residents and connected with their stories deeply: a community of hard-working immigrants, who came to this country for the betterment of their lives and their children’s lives.

So, in many ways, making this film became my personal tribute to my father.

Historian Geraldo Cadava (when describing his own grandfather) seemed to have described my father when he said, “And he found great value in the work, but I think that if he were given the opportunity to do another kind of work, that was even more meaningful to him, I don't know what dreams he might have pursued if given the opportunity... What would he have done with the freedom, the breathing room to think about other possibilities?”

I hope the film does him, and the residents of Chelsea, justice.

- Sabrina Avilés, Director and Producer