Christopher Cekay Allen

Producer, Director. Founder UnionDocs & Fatwood Studios

UnionDocs is a Center for Documentary Art that presents, produces, publishes, and educates. We lead a diverse community on a search for urgent expressions of the human experience, practical perspectives on the world today, and compelling visions for the future.


UnionDocs Center for Documentary Arts

Floyd Abrams: Speaking Freely explores America's dedication to the foundational principles of free speech and free press through the groundbreaking work of attorney Floyd Abrams. A biopic of the First Amendment told through Abrams' important cases, we reveal how this legal giant helped transform the First Amendment from an oft-ignored principle into a bulwark of American democracy. As the nation grapples with issues such as hate speech, book banning, the impact of money in politics, artificial intelligence and the dangers of boundless internet communication in a rapidly changing media ecosystem, Abrams continues to advocate for broad First Amendment protections. The film offers critical context for how we came to this moment where free speech issues have never felt more complicated and urgent, and where the nation is wondering anew: what price are we willing to pay for free speech?


Floyd Abrams: Speaking Freely 

Produced over 5 years by 60 artists at UnionDocs Center for Documentary Art, LIVING LOS SURES is an expansive project about the Southside of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Known by its long-term Latino residents as Los Sures, the neighborhood was one of the poorest in New York City in the late 70s and early 80s. In fact, it had been called the worst ghetto in America. Today, it is the site of a battle between local identity and luxury lifestyle. With the restoration of LOS SURES, a brilliant work of cinéma vérité filmmaking as a starting point, the project has developed into a collection of 40 SHORT FILMS, the interactive documentary 89 STEPS, and the cinematic people's history SHOT BY SHOT, demonstrating new possibilities for collaboration between an arts institution and its surrounding community to collect memories and share local culture.

Christopher Cekay Allen

Producer, Director. Founder UnionDocs & Fatwood Studios

Floyd Abrams: Speaking Freely

UnionDocs Center for Documentary Ar...

Living Los Sures