public housing

Farewell Oak Street

Mon, 15 Jun 1953

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.

Unarmed Verses

Mon, 01 May 2017

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

The Pruitt-Igoe Myth

Fri, 20 Jan 2012

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.

Public Housing

Mon, 02 Jun 1997

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.

Dandara: Enquanto Morar for um Privilégio, Ocupar é um Direito

Sun, 08 Sep 2013

Inquiry: The Great British Housing Disaster

Tue, 04 Sep 1984

David Jones investigates how 1960s council housing came to be built so poorly that thousands later needed to be demolished.

House Orders

Tue, 01 Apr 1975

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.

The Downtown Project

Sat, 01 Jan 2011

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.

70 Acres in Chicago: Cabrini Green

Sun, 23 Aug 2015

Documenting the demolition of Cabrini Green, Chicago's most infamous public housing development, through the stories of three public housing residents whose lives are turned upside down in the name of progress.

Ghar Mein Shehar Hona

Invalid Date

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

Hometopia

Mon, 05 Sep 2022

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.

West Estate

Fri, 10 Jan 2020

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.

The Walls Come Tumbling Down

Wed, 01 Jan 1975

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