Event
Series Pass: Remaking the Metropolis
From the gargantuan metropolises of the East Coast to the anywherescapes of small-town Mid-West and further to the low-rise, sunburnt valleys of California, American cities have defined our cultural landscape. We love ambition, creativity, concrete and steel; the architecture of Gropius and Mies and SOM; Venturi's Main Street; the engineered beauty of the Golden Gate and Brooklyn Bridges; the unexpected openness of the gridiron street patterns where vistas appear between blocks revealing open skies and views far into the distance. Yet, across the Nation, recession, urban renewal and a changing industrial landscape are shaping cities in interesting ways often leaving decay and displacement in their wake. This series presents three films that focus on the rise and decline of the great American city (to take Jane Jacobs's phrase). With Battle For Brooklyn, filmmakers Michael Galinsky and Suki Hawley examine Bloomberg's newly minted "Millionaires Playground" of New York City; French filmmaker Florent Tillon explores the detritus of Detroit in Detroit Wild City; and Chad Freidrichs documentary, The Pruitt-Igoe Myth is an analysis of the massive impact of the national urban renewal program of the 1950s and 1960s as seen from a single development in St. Louis, MO.
OCTOBER 713, FRIDAYTHURSDAY AT 7, 9PM (NO 9PM FRIDAYSUNDAY, NO 7PM MONDAYTHURSDAY)
Seattle Premiere!
Director in attendance!
Battle for Brooklyn
(Michael Galinsky, Suki Hawley, 2010, USA, DigiBeta, 93 min)
A David and Goliath story about urban development in Brooklyn's Prospect Heights. At once public and intimate, Battle for Brooklyn chronicles eight years in the life of Daniel Goldstein, the graphic-designer-turned-activist whose refusal to leave his apartment became the last obstacle to mega-developer Forest City Ratner's Atlantic Yards project. Director Michael Galinsky turns an unflinching eye on the struggle for community rights against corporate interest, looking for the story behind Mayor Bloomberg's vocal support for the project and examining the city's questionable legal rationale for replacing homes with a sports arena.
"Feisty but fairly reported as urgent as any Hollywood thriller." New York Daily News
OCTOBER 89, SATURDAYSUNDAY AT 3, 5PM
Seattle Premiere!
Detroit Wild City
(Florent Tillon, 2010, USA/France, HD, 80 min)
Falcons nest in its abandoned skyscrapers. Weeds sprout through broken sidewalks. Blighted apartment buildings fester with vermin. Hundreds of stray pit bulls roam the streets. These are images from Florent Tillon's documentary about the life, death, and rebirth of "Motor City." Tillon tells its story through haunting images of urban decay and interviews with residents who are reinventing the city's future. The stunning post-apocalyptic landscape of abandoned skyscrapers, empty streets and crumbling factories stand in stark contrast to past images of a thriving metropolis. Residents describe the transformation they witnessed over their lifetime and explain how the collapse of industry and infrastructure continues to thwart renewal. Still, they have found creative ways to survive and the proliferation of urban farms, wild animals, and micro economies based on barter and trade suggests that Detroit has gone "back to nature" for a second lease on life.
OCTOBER 89, SATURDAYSUNDAY AT 5PM
Seattle Premiere!
The Pruitt-Igoe Myth
(Chad Freidrichs, 2011, USA, DigiBeta, 79min)
Pruitt-Igoe is a low-cost housing project in St. Louis, MO. Built in the 1950s and '60s, it has attained legendary status as a failure of modernism, of modern architecture, of public housing, and of government funded programs in general. But is that the whole story? Documentarian Chris Freidrichs asks what more we can learn from Pruitt-Igoe other than "public housing doesn't work." A tale of poverty, race, government power and the people whose lives these things helped determine, The Pruitt-Igoe Myth is a detailed and moving documentary exploring the public housing site's history, from initial success to full demolition twenty years later. The story takes a wide-angle look at post-war American history but refracts it through the hopes, trials and disappointments of the buildings' residents, some of whom are interviewed.
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LocationNorthwest Film Forum
1515 12th Avenue
Seattle, WA 98122
United States
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