Louis pruitt igoe housing project by examining the rise and fall of the oncepromising development within a historical. The producers have compiled an additional fifty minutes of resident stories, a valuable oral history of life in pruittigoe that continues the emotional dialogue begun in the film. Filmmaker chad freidrichs attempts to dispel the myths surrounding st. Two decades later, it ended in rubble its razing an iconic event. The pruittigoe myth combines concise analysis and elegant cinematic resources in service of an uncommonly artful example of film journalism. In this documentary, archival footage and interviews shed light on the legacy and. Director chad freidrichs traces the history and experiences of residents of st. Watch the pruittigoe myth online vimeo on demand on vimeo. In the end pruitt igoe was intended to be good for the slums, but ultimately the complications of race and class within economic and social factors caused the failure of the attempted public housing. Louis, an urban renewal experiment gone bad director chad freidrichs traces the history and experiences of residents of st.
When the pruittigoe housing project opened back in 1956, its 33 highrise towers were hailed as a symbol of the future of american urban renewal. Louis, public welfare policies, racial segregation, and flawed assumptions made by the projects planners better explain what happened. 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 projects residents. The myths of the pruittigoe myth city journal project. The pruittigoe myth contextualizes the story of public. The pruitt igoe myth is a documentary film about the ways in which the american city changed in the 20th century. The pruittigoe myth tells the story of the transformation of the american city in. Built in 1956, pruittigoe was heralded as the model public housing project of. The causes of crime in pruittigoe are shared by hundreds of cities across the country that have lost their manufacturing jobs, population, and tax base. Louis commissioned a public housing project unlike any in history.
What freidrichs has accomplished is a portrait of unknowability. Louis public housing authoritys policies toward the residents of the pruittigoe public housing projects smack of paternalism and social engineering of the worst sort as the film shows us, the warped morality exuded by the authority yielded policies that tore. The pruittigoe 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. The pruittigoe myth is a documentary that tries to zero in on just why the massive public project went so quickly from being an modern masterpiece to an absolute hell in such a short amount of time. Few buildings in history can claim as infamous a legacy as that of the pruitt igoe housing project of st. That might have been acceptable at first, but definitely not over a long period of time. Jan 20, 2012 focused and unfussy, the pruittigoe myth, directed by chad freidrichs, is the documentary as essay, and it has a stated purpose. Daniel elkin and jason sacks take a look at a documentary that explores failed projects in st. Other former residents speak to the feeling they had as children when they moved into the housing project just before christmas.
The film argues that the dysfunctions that prompted the pruittigoe demolition were not inevitablethat crime, violence, and vandalism were products of a negligent maintenance regime, poor financing, and poor design, as well as what new school urban studies professor joseph heathcott, an interviewee, characterizes as the use of public housing. Louis housing project when the pruittigoe housing project opened to considerable fanfare back in 1956, its 33 highrise towers were hailed as a proud symbol of. The pruittigoe 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 projects residents. Instead, the pruittigoe myth argues that factors such as structural changes occurring in st. The film ends on a note of courage, and a calltoaction that we remember, naturally, but we cant completely buy it. The pruittigoe myth is a 2011 documentary film detailing the history of the pruittigoe public housing complex in st. Architects, urban planers, sociologist, and politicians have all weighed in on why the housing project failed, but no one can pin point the exact. An urban history uses the story of the project to look at the failures of public housing, owing to poor planning, lack of funding, and ongoing racism. Prior to the housing projects opening, residential properties in north st.
The pruittigoe myth seeks to set the historical record straight. The pruittigoe myth explores the social, economic and legislative issues that led to the decline of. Today, its reemerging within our professional consciousness through the release of a new movie, the pruittigoe myth, now being shown at film events across the nation, and has been further amplified by its mention during the 10year anniversary of 911, as the same architect, minoru yamasaki, also designed the twin towers in nyc. Why the pruittigoe housing project failed the economist. Mar 10, 2011 the pruitt igoe myth combines concise analysis and elegant cinematic resources in service of an uncommonly artful example of film journalism.
The film uses pruittigoe as a lens through which a larger story about affordable housing and the changing american city can be viewed. The pruittigoe myth friday, january 20 thursday, february 9, 2012 the pruittigoe 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 projects residents. As one speaker in the film states, the bigger story is in fact the decline of. The films focus is on a full history of pruittigoe and st. Constructed in 1956, pruittigoe offered people who once lived in poverty the change to enjoy. The story of pruittigoe, though, belongs to every american, as the film makes perfectly clear. The pruitt igoe myth 2011 filmmaker chad freidrichs examines the development and failure of a 1950s housing estate in st. By the late 1950s, the quality of life of pruittigoes residents had already begun a catastrophic downward spiral as.
Trailer for the documentary film the pruittigoe myth. May 15, 2012 the pruittigoe myth has screened at dozens of festivals around the world, includinglos angeles, truefalse, full frame, big sky and silverdocs. To examine the interests involved in pruittigoes creation. The personal stories told by former residents add a poignancy to the broad trends the film examines. Rent the pruittigoe myth 2011 on dvd and bluray netflix. Pruitt igoe myth public housing project business insider. Once a sign of hope for the underprivileged, the pruittigoe housing complex in st. The myth is a 2010 chinese television series based on the 2005 hong kong film of the same title. Louis fell into disrepair and was eventually demolished.
Jan 02, 2011 trailer for the documentary film the pruitt igoe myth. It doesnt answer a single question about the failure of pruitt igoe. The story being told by the documentarys tone contradicts the very point that the pruittigoe myths most passionate speakers seek to assert. The footage and images of its implosion have helped to perpetuate a myth of failure. The pruittigoe myth is surely one of the best and most moving documentaries in recent years. May 19, 2015 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. The pruittigoe architect, minoru yamasaki, has the great misfortune of having. Chad freidrichs is the director of the new documentary the pruitt igoe myth and in the film, he examines all the reasons people cite for the demise of pruitt igoe. It won best documentary feature at the oxford film festival and at the kansas city filmfest and was recently awarded the international documentary associations abcnews videosource award for best use.
One former resident featured in the film says she felt like her pruittigoe apartment was a poor mans penthouse. What is perhaps most shocking about director chad freidrichs excellent film the pruittigoe myth. It doesnt answer a single question about the failure of pruittigoe. Progressives have long sought a revisionist history of pruittigoe, the 32building public housing complex in. What i expected was a film that explained the formation, life, decline, and destruction of the pruitt igoe housing development. The most memorable of these, in my opinion, was the video clip of the caucasian woman. To examine the interests involved in pruitt igoe s creation. Rent the pruittigoe myth 2011 on dvd and bluray dvd. Louis north side, the federallyfunded development was created to provide shelter for 12,000 africanamerican refugees of the citys crumbling slums. Not the dramatic, notorious television footage of the 1972 implosion of an 11story building in the st. The testimony of former residents forms the heart of the pruittigoe myth, but many great hours of resident interviews were left on the cutting room floor.
Best documentaries on netflix new documentaries on netflix. In this episode of 99% invisible, we focus on the popular idea that the architecture was to blame. Its a story about promises made to decent people in the hopeful years following wwii, and how those promises were broken. The pruittigoe myth response shaping the future of. Louis, missouri, and the eventual decision to raze the entire complex in 1976 the documentary argues that the violent social collapse within the pruittigoe complex was not due to the demographic composition of its residents, but was a result of wider, external social. The pruittigoe myth tells the story of the transformation of the american city in the decades after. The pruittigoe myth is a 2011 documentary film detailing the history of the pruitt igoe public housing complex in st. The pruittigoe myth 2011 stream and watch online moviefone. Focused and unfussy, the pruittigoe myth, directed by chad freidrichs, is the documentary as essay, and it has a stated purpose. The pruittigoe myth is distributed by first run features and is screening at the ifc center in new york city starting january 20, 2012, and will roll out across the country to coincide with the 40 year anniversary of the implosion in march 2012 aerial view of the massive thirtythree building project. The pruittigoe myth makes me wonder if the development was just destined to fail from the very beginning. Whether you call pruittigoes short, troubled existence a failure. Designed by minoru yamasaki the architect who would later design the world trade.
Destroyed in a dramatic and highlypublicized implosion, the pruittigoe public housing complex has become a widespread symbol of failure amongst architects, politicians and policy makers. The film sets out to defy conventional wisdom, to refute longheld beliefs, the myths built to define, and absolve us of, the public housing projects demise. Louis public housing project by detroit architect minoru yamasaki that was completed in 1956 and failed sixteen years later. The myth referenced in the films title is that pruittigoes fatal flaw was its architectural design, a longheld belief that friedrichs film handily debunks. The documentary argues that the violent social collapse within the pruittigoe complex was not due to the demographic composition of its residents.
Jan 18, 2012 the film ends on a note of courage, and a calltoaction that we remember, naturally, but we cant completely buy it. Director chad freidrichs takes a long and necessary look at the modernist housing project designed to take residents out of ratinfested tenements and put them in clean, modern high rises designed to provide shelter, succor and dignity to the poverty stricken residents of st. The pruittigoe myth response shaping the future of new. The myth referenced in the film s title is that pruitt igoe s fatal flaw was its architectural design, a longheld belief that friedrichs film handily debunks. The pruittigoe myth tells the story of the transformation of the american city in the decades after world war ii, through the lens of the infamous. To the films credit, no single factor or group of individuals is. The pruitt igoe myth seeks to set the historical record straight. The filmmakers behind the pruittigoe myth confronted a formidable task. Louis, made possible by the american housing act of 1949, became a symbol of. The actual film met, and then greatly exceeded, those expectations. Destroyed in a dramatic and highlypublicized implosion, the pruitt igoe public housing complex has become a widespread symbol of failure amongst architects, politicians and policy makers.
At the films historical center is an analysis of the massive impact of the national urban renewal program of the. The pruittigoe myth film complet vf en ligne hd 720p. Jun 05, 2018 the causes of crime in pruittigoe are shared by hundreds of cities across the country that have lost their manufacturing jobs, population, and tax base. Jackie chan, who starred in the original film, was credited as producer for the series, while stanley tong, the director of the film, was creative director for the series. Congressman was initially conceived in the late 40s as. Pruitt, an africanamerican wwii fighter pilot, and william l. In an effort to create decent housing, safety and maintenance were ignored.
It untangles the various arguments about what went wrong in pruittigoe and dispels the oversimplifications and stereotypes that turned pruittigoe into a symbol of failure. New documentary the pruittigoe myth tells of the rise. Louis, missouri, and the eventual decision to raze the entire complex in 1976. The pruittigoe myth is a documentary film about the ways in which the american city changed in the 20th century. The myths of the pruittigoe myth a new film laments the housing projects failure for mostly the wrong reasons. Built in 1956, pruittigoe was heralded as the model public housing project of the future, the poor mans penthouse. Apr 12, 2012 the pruitt igoe myth screens friday at 9 p. Built in 1956, pruitt igoe was heralded as the model public housing project of the future, the. Within two decades, it would undergo complete demolition.
Mar 17, 20 the film the pruittigoe myth really helped me understand the trials and tribulations of the public housing development. The development and failure of a 1950s housing estate in st. The pruittigoe myth, a documentary by chad freidrichs, comprises yet another attempt to interpret the history of pruittigoe, a vast and ambitious st. The pruittigoe myth film complet vf 2015 en ligne hd the pruittigoe myth streaming the pruittigoe myth en entier film the pruittigoe myth film complet en francais regarder the pruittigoe myth online gratuit the pruittigoe myth regarder gratuitment the pruittigoe myth regarder film en ligne the pruittigoe myth streaming en entier. With slyvester brown, irvin dagen, elmer fiedler, robert fishman. The pruittigoe myth tells the story of the transformation of the american city in the decades after world war ii, through the lens of the infamous pruittigoe housing development and the st.
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