Stations of the elevated

United States, 1980

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Beginning in the switching yards as they set out on their daily route, Kirchheimer has photographed New Yorks trains as works of art and canvases for the city’s graffiti. As they travel through the decaying urban landscape, they are juxtaposed with advertisements which the filmmaker calls ‘sanctioned vandalism’. Eloquently combines glimpses of faces, billboards and 20th Century artefacts with an urban jazz soundtrack, by Charles Mingus, to create a political film exploring the possibilities of cinema and the visual texture of urban life.

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Collection

In ACMI's collection

Credits

director

Manfred Kirchheimer

production company

Streetwise Films

Duration

00:44:00:00

Production places

United States

Production dates

1980

Collection metadata

ACMI Identifier

015635

Subject categories

Advertising, Film, Journalism, Mass Media & TV → Advertising

Anthropology, Ethnology, Exploration & Travel → City and town life

Anthropology, Ethnology, Exploration & Travel → New York (N.Y.)

Communications, Infrastructure, & Transport → Railroad trains

Communications, Infrastructure, & Transport → Railroads

Communications, Infrastructure, & Transport → Railroads - Stations

Communications, Infrastructure, & Transport → Railroads - United States

Crafts & Visual Arts → Graffiti

Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → Advertising

Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → Advertising photography - Social aspect

Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → City and town life

Experimental

Experimental → Experimental films - United States

Places → New York (N.Y.)

Short films

Short films → Short films - United States

Sound/audio

Sound

Colour

Holdings

16mm film; Access Print (Section 1)

Wikidata

Q18154575

Please note: this archive is an ongoing body of work. Sometimes the credit information (director, year etc) isn’t available so these fields may be left blank; we are progressively filling these in with further research.

Cite this work on Wikipedia

If you would like to cite this item, please use the following template: {{cite web |url=https://acmi.net.au/works/77392--stations-of-the-elevated/ |title=Stations of the elevated |author=Australian Centre for the Moving Image |access-date=19 April 2025 |publisher=Australian Centre for the Moving Image}}