CITY OF CRANES on P.O.V.

Eva Weber's City of Cranes is a stunningly beautiful short cinematic work and has won numerous awards on the festival circuit this past year.  Tomorrow night, December 10, the film will have its US broadcast premiere on PBS' P.O.V. series, screening through December and January.  Tomorrow night, it plays with the feature doc, Inheritance. 

City of Cranes explores the world of London on-high as we vertiginously peek in on the lives of construction crane drivers, watching the ever-changing landscape far below them appear as if out of a mirage.  They make slow and graceful swings through the burgeoning cityscape sitting hundreds of feet above the ground, protected only by a small metal cage. 

The film is divided into distinct contemplative parts, narrated by the drivers themselves, that show different aspects of life working a crane--the relationship of the drivers with their machines, a look at London's booming growth, and the magnificence of these agile machines as they perform an eerily quiet ballet far above our heads.

The piece won Best Documentary Short at the Los Angeles Film Festival in June for Weber, its director, and Samantha Zarzosa, its producer.  It also garnered notice at Full Frame in April, winning the Jury Award for Best Short and won the Hellenic Red Cross Audience Award at the Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival.  It was also showcased in a theatrical exhibition here in New York at the MoMA.  Check your local PBS affiliate's listings for exact dates and times. 

Weber and Zarzosa also send word that this festival season they will be traveling the circuit with a newly-finished companion piece called The Solitary Life of Cranes, which focuses on the "invisible" life of a city seen through the drivers' eyes, capturing a full 24-hour period with its changing light, its changing patterns and its changing rhythms.  I saw this as a work-in-progress at Britdoc in July where it won Best Short; it also just screened at the Sheffield Doc/Fest in October where it was described in The Guardian as a film that "got it all beautifully right. . . .  Very simply, the film did what art should do: it opened your eyes."

Comments

[Fitness Exercises]

Beautiful City! Thanks for the photo.

[Buy Propecia]

Thank you very much for the information I really appreciate it!!

[Erin Donovan]

It's great to see this fabulous short get its due attention!

[Ruiyan]

Hey Pamela, You can watch the film for free on the POV website here:
http://www.pbs.org/pov/shorts/shorts_cityofcranes.html

Thanks
Ruiyan
P.O.V.