Brooklyn ’76

In the heart of Bensonhurst, an Italian American family struggles to survive one explosive day—the nation’s Bicentennial.

The Agnello family wakes Bicentennial morning to the sound of fireworks. Outside their apartment, block party preparations are already underway. Paulie, husband and father, is out on strike with his union and desperate to make ends meet; Dee, stern wife and mother, harbors a secret guilt for a childhood family tragedy. Tony, the dutiful eldest son, fast coming of age, now obsesses over his first girlfriend and stands ready to defy his parents to spend the Fourth with her. Alex, the youngest son, still sees the world though innocent eyes, a perspective unlikely to survive the day.

As the rest of the neighborhood celebrates, a string of public missteps drives the family apart, forcing each Angello to face their own insecurities and regrets. At nightfall, the fireworks extravaganza draws the scattered family back together. Celebration soon turns into tragedy, innocence is lost, and one life is left hanging in the balance. Funny, dark, and unsentimental, Brooklyn ’76is an urgent family drama set against the backdrop of a working-class neighborhood—and a country—on the brink of transformation.