2:00 pm
Programmer and Host: E. J. Hamacher
Director: Willard Van Dyke and Ralph Steiner, 1939 (45 mins.)
Free with Museum Membership or with Museum Admission.
In this activist documentary, made for screenings at the 1939 World’s Fair, the sprawling growth of the new American metropolis is condemned for manufacturing as many slums, trash heaps, and traffic accidents as shiny new products. Focusing specifically on its effects on our children, the film asks the difficult (and still relevant) question: “Can’t we do better than this?” New York Film and Photo League alumni Van Dyke and Steiner teamed up with filmmaker Pare Lorentz, architectural scholar Lewis Mumford, and composer Aaron Copland to produce this pioneering work of social conscience. Related exhibition: Shout Freedom! Photo League Selections from the Columbus Museum of Art. MMA’s film club screens famous films of art cinema from all over the world, focusing on the key works of cinema’s major directors. Each screening is introduced by a short scholarly account the film’s cultural and historical importance and followed by an open discussion. Programmer E. J. Hamacher has a Masters of Arts in film history and theory from Wayne State University and is the author of Permanent Revolution: The Documentary Film in Cuba. He currently teaches the Introduction to Cinema class at Muskegon Community College.