New York City always has a certain romanticism to it. In addition to it never sleeping and being the town where many of your wildest dreams can come true, there is also an aesthetic viewpoint to the city that whether it is the present pristine look or the rough and tumble 1970’s, there is an unmistakable power in its beauty.
This is often best captured in moving images and filmmaker Manfried Kirchheimer understands the beat of urban life this better than most. That vision is shown in Stations of the Elevated, his 1977 filmed (released in 1981) documentary.
Beginning this Friday for one week only at BAMcinematek, Stations is the filmmaker’s perspective on how the then rampant graffiti on select New York City elevated trains and how they symbolize what is happening in the late 1970’s society. What sets Stations apart from a simple essay film is its historical and musical aspects.
The earliest filmed document of graffiti, Kirchheimer’s richly chromatic film (shot on 16mm color reversal film and now remastered in high definition) sets images of New York City to a soundtrack that interweaves ambient city noises with the spirited gospel squall of jazz titan Charles Mingus and Aretha Franklin’s transcendent rendition of “Amazing Grace.” Also of historical significance is its treatment of graffiti is artistic and ornamental, not with the tags of vandalism it once held.
As with any authentic urban landscape, there is also a great deal of Black people and bodies on screen. As artistically shot and edited (Kirchheimer peformed practically all duties on the film) as the trains and graffiti, these images of ‘ghetto’ youth and more are significant in elevating the allure of Black images in a time – then and now – when Blackness is being relegated to that of despair and other negative values.
Stations of the Elevated will be presented in its US theatrical premiere run alongside Kirchheimer’s Claw (1968), a poetic, deeply critical examination of urban renewal. Kirchheimer will appear in person for Q&As on October 17 and 18.
An Artists Public Domain/Cinema Conservancy release | 1981 | 45min | In English | Color | DCP
Total program run time: 75min
Stations of the Elevated and Claw (30min) screen Fri, Oct 17—Thu, Oct 23: Fri & Sun at 2, 4, 6, 7:45*, 9:45pm; Sat at 7*, 9:15pm; Mon—Thu at 4:30, 6:15, 8, 10pm
