Stoop Chat with Jimmy & Shanaya is an award-winning short doc film featuring “Harmonica Jimmy” and his neighbor, Shanaya, who forge an unlikely friendship as they discover a shared love of poetry, music and street games. This short is the first in a series of intergenerational “Stoop Chat” videos that celebrates stoop culture and preserves neighborhood stories. It builds on the Stoop Stories community project founded at the beginning of the COVID pandemic to connect, support, and celebrate our NYC neighbors. The goals of the project are to uplift and encourage more community connections in a time of significant loneliness and isolation, particularly for youth and elders. Funded by Brooklyn Arts Council and the Stoop Stories community, this series pilot was directed by Stoop Stories founder and Emmy-nominated producer Marj Kleinman, and Student Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Gabriella Canal, in collaboration with the Stoop Stories Collective of storytellers and artists. Stoop Chat with Jimmy & Shanaya is a Bronze Award and Community Voice Award Winner in the 4th Annual Anthem Awards and has been featured in nine film festivals, including Project Unlonely, Better Cities Film Festival, Urban Dreams Mental Health Film Festival (Best Documentary), Cinema Touching Disability (Winner), and Women Over 50 (Winner). We hosted a live film screening and community discussion at Heights & Hills Park Slope Center for Successful Aging in November 2023. By survey, 84% of viewers said they wanted to connect more with their neighbors after experiencing this film.