Curated by Aoife Desmond; introduced by Hugh Campbell (Professor and Dean of Architecture UCD)
6.30pm / Wednesday 16 October
Irish Film Institute - 6 Eustace Street, Temple Bar, Dublin
Street Films convey the beauty and complexity of the urban everyday and centres on In the Street (1952) by American photographer/filmmaker Helen Levitt. She documents the vibrant improvisations of a busy Harlem Street in New York. Contemporary filmmakers Jeanne Liotta, Moira Tierney, and Tadhg O’ Sullivan create intimate place portraits on film of a Good Friday procession in New York, the Smithfield horse market’s battle for survival and contradictions of poverty, and wealth on Bow St, Dublin, respectively.
Film info:
In the Street, Helen Levitt
16mins, 16mm, b&w, sound, 1948
In the Street is a short 1948 silent film shot in New York City directed and edited by American photographer Helen Levitt, assisted by novelist and critic James Agee and fellow photographer Janice Loeb. In the Street was shot with small 18mm hidden cameras and documents the grim realities of Harlem street-life, especially that of its children at play. It can be seen as a continuation of Levitt's exploration of children's street culture prevalent in her photography, but also explores the mundane life led by their working class parents.
19mins, 35mm, colour, sound, 2010
“Nuyo-realism” from the streets of Manhattan’s Lower East Side, Crosswalk is a locative portrait in sound and image, shot at the intersection of home movie and cinema verite. Participation and observation take place on consecutive Good Fridays, highlighting the hybrid urban collage of peoples, cultures, and performances in daily life.
Ride City, Moira Tierney
10mins, colour & b/w, music by Giles Packham, 1999
The twin-screen battle for survival of Dublin's inner-city Smithfield Horse Market.
28mins, HD, colour, sound, 2010
A narrow Dublin street of bustling barristers, bowed street-drinkers, box-ticking tourists. An urban portrait that hurries and slows to the criss-crossing paces of a hundred passers-by. We ghost through the movements and pauses of everyday lives; voices drift in and out with musings on life and love, justice and hatred, fucking up and forgiveness, holding on and letting go.
