film screening
Stories from the City [2]
selected by film critic Yazan Ashqar

Tuesday 15 April 2014 | The Blue House 6:30 PM

This second selection of short documentary films presents cinematic examples that deal with the influence of the city during social and political transformations.

Film selection:
1. Contras' City
directed by Djibril Diop Mambety
Senegal 1969
This satrical film uses visuals of Dakar’s architecture and two offscreen narrators, one French, the other Senegalese, to illustrate the blend of colonial and native influences mixing within the city.

2. Lift
directed by Marc Isaacs
United Kingdom 2001
25 min
Director Marc Isaacs installs himself in the lift of a typical English tower block. People start talking to him and we discover their lives.

3. L'amour Existe
directed by Maurice Pialat
France 1960
21 minutes
Accompanied by a voice-over narration, the camera drives us through the suburbs of late 1950’s Paris. A story about the oppression of modernity and the sadness of modern life.

4. New York, N.Y.
directed by Raymond Depardon
France 1986
Photographer Raymond Depardon was a stranger in a foreign land when he arrived in New York in 1980. To quell his loneliness he roamed the streets photographing the people he encountered.

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