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Alison Nguyen’s 14-minute film “Prior Occupants” (2026) explores the history of Westbeth Artists Housing, a Manhattan complex that previously housed Bell Laboratories. A Hyperallergic review describes the film as research-driven but difficult to follow, saying its fragments prompt curiosity without clearly explaining the historical material.
Alison Nguyen’s 14-minute film “Prior Occupants” (2026) uses archival records and images of Westbeth Artists Housing to approach the Manhattan complex’s earlier life as a Bell Laboratories site. In a Hyperallergic review, the film is described as a work that draws on extensive research but leaves much of its historical material fragmentary, making the former occupants feel close enough to prompt questions but difficult to fully understand.
The film opens with Nguyen paging through confidential files attributed to Bell Laboratories. The review says it briefly refers to the company’s involvement in the Manhattan Project and its development of components for ballistic missiles, but offers little explanation of those references. One still shows an original file documenting Bell Telecommunication Company research at Columbia University’s Rare Books and Manuscripts Library.
Other images connect the archival material to the building itself. A film still shows the water-damaged basement at Westbeth, which the review identifies as having once served as the cafeteria for the complex’s predecessor, Bell Laboratories. The film also takes up Westbeth’s history near the start of the High Line in Manhattan, linking a public setting and a nearby arts-housing complex with the less visible institutional history beneath it.
The reviewer’s central criticism is that the film’s fragments of information are not always legible. Rather than laying out the significance of the records, “Prior Occupants” uses brief references that the review says incite curiosity more readily than they explain the history. The assessment does not dispute the film’s research or its subject; it argues that greater clarity would have helped viewers follow the connections.
The film draws attention to a part of Westbeth’s history that can be obscured by its present identity as artists’ housing: the site’s former use by Bell Laboratories. That shift in use links the building to corporate research and to references in the film involving wartime and military technology. The supplied review does not establish further details about those activities, but it makes clear that Nguyen is asking viewers to consider what remains embedded in the complex’s past.
The review’s concern about legibility also matters to how that history reaches the public. Archival documents can suggest a larger story without making it accessible on their own. By describing the film as suggestive but under-explained, the reviewer highlights a tension between evoking a hidden history and giving audiences enough information to understand it.
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From Bell Labs to Artists’ Housing
Westbeth is presented in the source as an artists’ housing complex in Manhattan, near the beginning of the High Line. Before its use as artists’ housing, its predecessor served as a Bell Laboratories site; the complex’s basement included a cafeteria. These details form the physical and historical frame for Nguyen’s film.
The film incorporates files associated with Bell’s research, including material held at Columbia University’s Rare Books and Manuscripts Library. The review notes references to the company’s role in the Manhattan Project and to ballistic-missile components, but does not supply a detailed timeline, explain the specific files, or describe how the research relates to particular spaces in Westbeth. Its discussion is a review of a short film, not a full historical account of the complex.
““A little more legibility would’ve benefited” the film.”
— Hyperallergic reviewer
What the Film Leaves Unexplained
The supplied report does not identify the specific contents of the confidential files, explain why they are described as confidential, or establish the full scope of Bell Laboratories’ work at the site. It also does not provide additional documentation for the film’s brief references to the Manhattan Project and ballistic-missile components. Those points should be treated as references made in the film as described by the reviewer, not as a complete account of the company’s history.
Details about the film’s screening venue, release schedule, audience response and any statements from Nguyen are not included in the source material. The review’s criticism of clarity is an assessment of the work, rather than a claim that its underlying research is inaccurate.
Further Records Could Clarify the Story
No follow-up screening, archival release or additional statement is announced in the supplied material. Readers seeking a fuller account would need to consult the film itself and the archival records cited, including material at Columbia University’s Rare Books and Manuscripts Library. Further reporting could establish what the documents contain and how they relate to Westbeth’s former Bell Laboratories use.
For now, the confirmed development is the release of Nguyen’s 2026 short film and the publication of a review that finds its historical approach intriguing but difficult to follow. Whether the film’s references will be supplemented by additional documentation or explanation remains unknown.
Key Questions
What is “Prior Occupants”?
It is a 14-minute film by Alison Nguyen, released in 2026, about the history of Westbeth Artists Housing and the site’s earlier connection to Bell Laboratories.
What was Westbeth before it became artists’ housing?
The supplied review says the complex’s predecessor served as a Bell Laboratories site and that its basement once housed the company’s cafeteria.
What records appear in the film?
The film shows files attributed to Bell Laboratories, including an original file documenting Bell Telecommunication Company research held at Columbia University’s Rare Books and Manuscripts Library.
What is the reviewer’s main criticism?
The Hyperallergic reviewer says the film’s historical fragments prompt curiosity but do not explain their significance clearly enough. The review suggests more legibility would have benefited the work.
Are the film’s historical claims independently established in the report?
The supplied review mentions brief references to Bell Laboratories and the Manhattan Project, as well as ballistic-missile components, but does not provide a full historical account or supporting detail. Those references should be read as the film’s subject as reported by the reviewer, not as independently verified findings in this material.
Source: hyperallergic.com
