Screening of ‘The Pruitt-Igoe Myth’ Saturday May 14 at Noon

Failed buildings are often forgotten shortly after they are abandoned and razed, if not before. Pruitt-Igoe is different, the public housing complex has been gone nearly twice as long as it stood and it remains of interest around the world.

Many were impacted, both good and bad, by having lived at Pruitt-Igoe.   A recently completed documentary, The Pruitt-Igoe Myth, looks at the buildings and the people housed in them:

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 is- sues 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 film was directed by Chad Freidrichs and produced by Chad Freidrichs, Jaime Freidrichs, Paul Fehler and Brian Woodman. The film’s Flickr account contains great images. The film can be followed on Twitter and Facebook. Saturday (5/14) you can see the film for $10 at the Tivoli Theater on Delmar, noon.

Here is the film’s trailer:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7RwwkNzF68

The filmmakers spent nearly four years on this project. I was shown a rough cut at my loft a couple  of years ago but Wednesday night was my first viewing of the completed film.  I’m very impressed how they showed the good, bad & ugly sides of Pruitt-Igoe.

– Steve Patterson