The East End Film Festival
A Sense of Place: Living in the East End

Whitechapel Gallery
Wednesday 23rd April, 7.30pm, £5

What's the point of cities built without the people's wisdom' Bertolt Brecht

A Sense of Place presents a discussion and screening of short films exploring the significance of place in the formation of identity in the East End of London. The screening will focus on the responses to present living conditions, the history of social housing and to the current climate of rapid commercial development in the area, and discover to what extent urban design determines how the residents perceive and relate to the environment around them.

Films explore the effects of interventions in residential architecture from the demolition of a tower block to the small-scale refurbishment of a signal box. It also considers the personal narratives of the people living there.

Finally, they raise questions about what we can learn from failed housing structures and how those lessons can inspire new urban strategies that meet the need of local inhabitants to identify with their homes on a personal and collective level.

Film Programme
Extract from The London Particular - Dir: Benedict Seymour and David Panos (2004) - 11 mins  
Edit from Part 1 of a full-length film about the strange, neoliberal 'renaissance' of East London, with a particular focus on the history of the Holy Street Estate, Hackney.

Lift – Dir: Marc Isaacs (2001) – 25 mins
Isaac’s acclaimed documentary features interviews with the residents in an East London tower block through chance meetings in the building’s elevator.

Guerrilla Gardening - Dir: Ashley Jones (2007) - 8 mins
Documentary exploring the work of Guerrilla Gardener, Richard Reynolds as he illicitly cultivates neglected public space around London.

Subverting the City - Dir: Dan Edelstyn (2004) – 3 mins
‘Subverting the City’ follows the illegal refurbishment of an abandoned signal box in Shoreditch by the team from the Office of Subversive Architecture.

A discussion will follow the screening

Panellists include:
Dolan Cummings, Manifesto Club
James Hartfield, director of audacity.org
Marc Issacs, Director of 'The Lift'
Karsten Huneck from the Office of Subversive Architecture
Richard Reynolds from GuerrillaGardeners.org

Screened as part of The East End Film Festival (17th- 24th April)
www.eastendfilmfestival.com
www.whitechapel.org/content.php?page_id=4338