Unarmed Verses

Unarmed Verses 2017

10.00

Toronto filmmaker Charles Officer profiles the young people of Villaways Park, a housing project on brink of historic change.

2017

The Pruitt-Igoe Myth

The Pruitt-Igoe Myth 2012

6.60

Destroyed in a dramatic and highly-publicized implosion, the Pruitt-Igoe public housing complex has become a widespread symbol of failure amongst architects, politicians and policy makers. The Pruitt-Igoe Myth explores the social, economic and legislative issues that led to the decline of conventional public housing in America, and the city centers in which they resided, while tracing the personal and poignant narratives of several of the project's residents. In the post-War years, the American city changed in ways that made it unrecognizable from a generation earlier, privileging some and leaving others in its wake. The next time the city changes, remember Pruitt-Igoe.

2012

Public Housing

Public Housing 1997

7.00

Public Housing is Wiseman’s unflinching portrayal of life at the Ida B. Wells housing project in Chicago, a raw exposition of the daily conflicts between residents and the bureaucratic machinery to which they are continually subjected. With intimate detail and an abiding dedication to his subject, Wiseman unearths the hidden facets of institutions to find humanity and sites of unexpected beauty.

1997

Farewell Oak Street

Farewell Oak Street 1953

1

This documentary presents a before-and-after picture of people in a large-scale public housing project in Toronto. Due to a housing shortage, they were forced to live in squalid, dingy flats and ramshackle dwellings on a crowded street in Regent Park North; now they have access to new, modern housing developments designed to offer them privacy, light and space.

1953

West Estate

West Estate 2020

1

West Estate spotlights the severe housing problems in Hong Kong, taking the spirit of resistance outside of the protest. The damaged walls in the cage-like tenements reflect the many forms of social injustice as well as Hongkongers’ widespread sense of rootlessness. Connecting three stories from different households like puzzle pieces, the film depicts people’s despair over issues of family, sexuality, love, and freedom.

2020

Ghar Mein Shehar Hona

Ghar Mein Shehar Hona 1970

1

via print and film, love and music, state propaganda and people's archives, five-year plans and Emergency.

1970

House Orders

House Orders 1975

1

In buildings where foreign workers lived in Germany, there were strict rules of conduct, defined by the house rules and supervised by the building superintendents. Many rights regarding the freedom of movement, communication and behavior were abused. Interviews with the tenants and with the "orderlies" which point out absurd situations and clashes caused by these restrictions.

1975

The Downtown Project

The Downtown Project 2011

1

Just a stone’s throw from downtown Montreal is the largest social housing complex in Quebec. Built in 1959 where the red-light district used to be, Les Habitations Jeanne-Mance have retained something of the area’s seedy reputation for poverty, prostitution, drugs and violence. But who really knows the projects and the people who live there? Delving beneath the prejudices and stereotypes, director Isabelle Longtin ventured inside the buildings and met the residents.

2011

Hometopia

Hometopia 2022

1

Hometopia is a short animation reflecting upon the ubiquitous but wildly despised British council housing. The animation takes on the tone of a child's fairy tale, depicting the bizarre experience of entering a dazzling estate and later getting lost in an illusionary utopian world.

2022

The Walls Come Tumbling Down

The Walls Come Tumbling Down 1975

1

A 1975 documentary short about a strike being conducted by public-housing residents in St. Louis.

1975

The PJs

The PJs 1999

7.00

The PJs is an American stop-motion animated television series, created by Eddie Murphy, Larry Wilmore, and Steve Tompkins. It portrayed life in an urban public housing project, modeled after the Brewster-Douglass housing projects in Detroit that once housed Diana Ross and Lily Tomlin. The series starred Eddie Murphy, and was produced by Imagine Entertainment by Ron Howard and Brian Grazer, The Murphy Company & Will Vinton Studios in association with Touchstone Television and Warner Bros. Television. The original run of the series debuted on Fox on Sunday, January 10, 1999 in the time slot, following a divisional conference football playoff game. Two days later, the second episode aired in its regular Tuesday night time slot, following King of the Hill.

1999

Show Me a Hero

Show Me a Hero 2015

7.04

Mayor Nick Wasicsko took office in 1987 during Yonkers' worst crisis when federal courts ordered public housing to be built in the white, middle class side of town, dividing the city in a bitter battle fueled by fear, racism, murder and politics.

2015

Struggle Street

Struggle Street 2015

8.00

The series sheds light on the struggles and aspirations of residents in public housing areas around Western Sydney; areas which have been commonly associated with high unemployment, drug use and problems with the law.

2015