Stations of the Elevated

Newly restored, Stations Of The Elevated (1981) is a 45-minute city symphony directed, produced, and edited by Manfred Kirchheimer. Crisscrossing the gritty and majestic urban landscape of 1970s Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan to a score of city noise, jazz, and gospel, Stations is an impressionistic portrait of and a tribute to a New York that has long since disappeared. Shot on lush 16mm color reversal stock, the film captures the height of the graffiti movement, showcasing images of subway carstagged by legends like Blade, Daze, Lee, and many others. By juxtaposing this self-expressive imagery with shots of hand-painted corporate billboard advertising of the day, Stations challenges our traditional ideas of urban art, the use of public space, and the city life itself.