It’s been a full year since we’ve first pointed you to Yves Marchand’s and Romain Meffre’s fantastic photographs from the ruins of Detroit. About two weeks ago the british Guardian ran a great story about their work and their book “The Ruins of Detroit” (amazon affiliate link), including an image gallery with a number of photos that haven’t been seen online before. You should check them out!
These are absolutely worth reading and especially seeing! Beautiful photographs that hint at numerous and unfortunately sad stories from the urban America of the 20th century.
The ruins of Detroit and the downfall of what once was America’s fourth largest city are definitely one of the most fascinating aspects of the “other America” – and have been a topic on this blog severaltimes before. In the latest chapter of Detroits videography, a shoe company sent Jackass-frontman Johnny Knoxville to Detroit. Not to mock it Jackass-style, but to visit the local art scene that is flourishing between overgrown façades and abandoned shopping malls – adding just another new aspect to the whole Detroit-story. The end result is the urban explorer-style documentary “Detroit Lives!”. Below you will find a trailer and part 1 of the full-length documentary, hit the jump for parts 2 and 3.
Wow! The Denver Post put together an amazing set of color photographs taken between 1939 and 1943 in post-depression era America. Some of the only color pictures that take a close look at the effect of the Great Depression on rural America. Color photos from times long ago are a treat anyway, but these ones are even more special. They’ve been taken from the archives of the Library of Congress, in particular from the color set of the 1930s to 1940s. Head on over to flickr to browse through them for yourself, but be warned, it’s a whopping 1,615 photos in this set alone.
What if tomorrow everyone’s car just disappeard? That was the question that Ross Ching asked himself. As an answer he came up with the following video in which he got rid of all the cars in L.A.. It’s the city of 12-lane-superhighways without the cars. Without the trucks. Without any motorized vehicle… Take a look.
New York based filmmaker Malcolm Murray takes a close look at the fading tradition of handpainted advertising. A short documentary that is so beautifully shot and heartwarmingly told that you can hardly hold back tears. A little slice of life that we are rarely aware of. Take a look.
You are about to witness the exciting story of a city and its people. It will be an adventure that will open new sights in familiar surroundings. That city is Detroit. Home of nearly two million people.
Proud words that open the documentary “Requiem For Detroit” by Julian Temple, commissioned by the BBC. Words that stem from an old promotional film, spoken by one of Detroit’s former mayors. What Julian Temple does with these words and the corresponding image is so simple, yet powerful that I got goosebumps running down my spine. He took that old promotional film and projected it onto decaying ruins of Detroit’s inner city and had the voice of the former mayor echo through empty windows and abandoned hallways. A technique he utilizes more than once during the 75 minutes of this fantastic documentary. Temple talks to artists, poets, urban explorers and many others that lead him through decaying urban landscapes, telling about the rise and fall of what was once one of the most influential cities of the Industrial Age. Julian Temple says:
Detroit was the frontier city in the US, powering the American dream. What I find fascinating is the fact that it is still ahead of the game, becoming the first big US city to virtually fall off the map.
A Must-Watch! Right now right here. Hurry now, before YouTube takes it down.
When traveling on a shoestring budget – like we did during research last fall – you generally aim for the cheapest accommodations you can get. In our case, we are talking about those cheap and seemingly endless motel chains that cover all of the United States. In fact, our budget for the whole trip was so small, we even had to go with the cheapest of the cheap. No exceptions.
Our first stay was in Newark, NJ, close to the airport. Our plane came in late at night, and we couldn’t get our rental car before the next morning. The hotel we had booked offered a free shuttle service from and to the airport. And so we were waiting with many others at the shuttle area to get picked up. Shuttle busses were constantly coming and going: Imagine brand new vans from Mariott and Hilton, from Best Western and Holiday Inn, painted in the respective colors of their hotels, dropping of travelers and picking up new ones. Drivers helped carrying luggage, loading and unloading. We kept waiting. And slowly began doubting if there was ever going to arrive a shuttle service for us, too.
Well, no reason for a doubt. Just a little more waiting, and an old Dodge van turned into the shuttle area. The Dodge’s color would have been grey, if it wasn’t for all the rust. This van was so dented you could only guess that it took part in Monster Truck Shows in its free time. Not as Monster, apparently. In the windshield was a piece of paper that read Howard Johnson Hotel. That’s our ride! I don’t have to mention that the driver was just a driver, no porter. And as if we needed another confirmation we kept looking for other travelers that needed a shuttle to Howard Johnson Hotel. But we were the only ones. After all, the hotel itself was absolutely sufficient. Our room was right in the middle of the airport approach path and next to the Interstate that went into Manhattan, but we were far too tired to even think about it.
The television documentary series “Mister & Missis.Sippi” that was broadcast on German television during the Easter holidays, is now available online via the library of its broadcaster 3sat. There are three parts of 45 minutes each that take its viewers on an entertaining journey by raft on the Mississippi, peeking into some true American backrooms. Please note: The show is available in German with only Interviewees speaking in English. And due to possible geo blocking it might be unavailable in non-German-speaking territories.
Volker Strübing, writer, musician, poet, and Patricia Schäfer, German TV host, are travelling on the mississippi by raft. From St. Louis to New Orleans. And they made a documentary series about it. Great idea! The Trailer (in German only) looks absolutely fantastic and I’m definitely going to tune in. Three part series starting tonight at 8:15 PM on German broadcaster 3sat. Parts 2 and 3 will air tomorrow and on Monday.
The Berlin Film Festival “Berlinale” draws to a close and the hustle and bustle of the European Film Market is already gone… and we found time again to upload a bit of new content from our research trip last fall: Head on over to the American Backroom Flickr-Stream to catch a couple new pictures from South Dakota, Wisconsin and Michigan. There are more to come soon – we are far from finished exploiting all the photos we took during our trip.
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