Various locations in Belfast
Screenings at Belfast Film Festival 2012
Architecture on Film
PLACE is delighted to be working with the Belfast Film Festival to bring architecture and urban design films to the city this year: two highly acclaimed films from 2011, and one classic from 1988.
- Urbanized (2011) - 31st May, 7pm at the MAC
- The Pruitt-Igoe Myth (2011) - 2nd June, 5pm at the BFF Beanbag Cinema
- The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces (1988) - 7th June, 9.30pm at the Commercial Court Outdoor Screen
Urbanized / Directed by Gary Hustwit. 2011. 85 mins. USA.
Urbanized is a feature-length documentary about the design of cities, looking at the issues and strategies behind urban design, and featuring some of the world’s foremost architects, planners, policymakers, builders, and thinkers.
Over half the world’s population now lives in an urban area, and 75% will call a city home by 2050. But while some cities are experiencing explosive growth, others are shrinking. The challenges of balancing housing, mobility, public space, civic engagement, economic development, and environmental policy are fast becoming universal concerns.
Yet much of the dialogue on these issues is disconnected from the public domain. Who is allowed to shape our cities, and how do they do it? Unlike many other fields of design, cities aren’t created by any one specialist or expert. There are many contributors to urban change, including ordinary citizens who can have a great impact improving the cities in which they live. By exploring a diverse range of urban design projects around the world, Urbanized frames a global discussion on the future of cities.
Thurs 31st May, 7pm at The MAC. £6.50.
The Pruitt-Igoe Myth / Directed by Chad Friedrichs. 2011. 83 mins. USA.
The Pruitt-Igoe Myth tells the story of the decline of the American city after World War II. The film analyses the impact of the 1949 Housing Act, which led to the high-rise public housing of the ’50s and ’60s, initiated the urban renewal programme and prompted the process of mass suburbanisation, emptying American cities of their residents, business and industry. In St. Louis, those that were left behind faced a destitute, rapidly de-industrialising city, increasingly segregated by class and race.
And yet, despite this complex history, Pruitt-Igoe has often been stereotyped, with help from the world-famous image of its implosion, used as an argument against Modernist architecture or public assistance programmes. The Pruitt- Igoe Myth seeks to set the record straight, to examine the interests in Pruitt- Igoe’s creation, the rumours and the stigma, to implode the myth.
Sat 2nd June, 5pm at BFF Beanbag Cinema. £5.
The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces / A film by William H. Whyte. Produced by the Municipal Art Society of New York. Duration: 58 minutes.
This film is based on a city study carried out by William “Holly” Whyte, urbanist and journalist. The result is this film and a book, under the same title, which explore the open spaces of cities and why some of them work for people while others don’t. Beginning at New York’s Seagram Plaza, one of the most used open areas in the city, the film proceeds to analyze why this space is so popular and how other urban realm, both in New York and elsewhere, measure up.
Through time-lapse observation of how people interact with one another and with public areas, the film shows surprising revelations on how people actually use the urban landscape - like people watching, but on a whole new level.
Thurs 7th June, 9.30pm. Outdoor screening at Commerical Court Car Park (Beside Dark Horse and the Duke of York). £2.
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