In Review: Better Cities Film Festival
In Review: Better Cities Film Festival
Spotlighting three urbanist movies that were screened at February's Better Cities Film Festival.
On Friday, Feburary 9th, 2024, Southern Urbanism hosted the Better Cities Film Festival, showcasing city-themed films and broadcasting urbanism to the Durham community. Southern Urbanism fellow Adeleine Geitner reviewed three picks, and the full list of programming can be seen here.
The Engine Inside
“When we get on a bicycle, not only do we better ourselves, we better our world.”
For many Americans, cars represent independence. The freedom to get in and go off wherever one wants to go, whenever one wants. For folks who have spent time on a bike, bikes offer that same independence. But they also provide something deeper.
Cyclists make their own routes and turn their own gears. Every ride is a concerted contribution to a cause. Cyclists fight for their right to use the street, against people who say they are too old, too feminine, too reckless.
The Engine Inside pulls the viewer into a display of that something deeper. A spirited telling of six riders’ stories, the film stretches and pushes the boundaries of what riding a bike can feel like, can mean, and can provide anyone who tries.
Across the snow of Alaska, down the roads of Ghana, to the streets of Brooklyn, The Engine Inside carries the viewer through six stories of the saving and proving power of bikes. No part of the ride—the speed, the struggle, the wind, the rush—is left out of the viewing experience.
Since its 2023 debut in Amsterdam, The Engine Inside has connected viewers from New Zealand to Ontario to Shanghai, artfully demonstrating how the simple bike, “our noblest invention,” has changed the lives of so many, and may be the key to saving our planet.
The Edge of Memphis
At its core, the city-building cause is driven by a single powerful force. No corner of the city cannot be rallied around, invested in, or offered the love of its residents to reach its full potential. In every borough of every town, the ideas and attention of neighbors can reignite the saving force needed to pull a place back on its feet: hope.
The Edge of Memphis captures this hope in the stories of a few concerted efforts that transformed an ignored section of the city into a neighborly, self-supporting hub for creativity and commingling. In humble terms, the film captures how the shared recognition of the Edge’s potential—the strip of empty commercial buildings between Memphis’s downtown and medical center—by a handful of small businesses reenergized the formerly neglected district.
For towns looking to breathe life back into their peripheral places, The Edge of Memphis presents an inspiring recipe—a jazz club here, a deli here, a pop-up there—for entrepreneurs and community partners to follow.
Thoughts on Reimagining Urban Sites
We go to cities to enjoy the unique spaces they provide, the exotic architecture, the grand eateries, and views. But rarely are we given a chance to hear the philosophy of the makers of these popular spaces. What ideas drive their creators? What attention was paid to uniting this new space with the existing urban fabric? What places influenced this one, and why does it all matter?
Thoughts on Reimagining Urban Sites is a sneak peek into this less-understood layer of our favorite cities. A guided tour through the minds of the architects that brought Washington, D.C. their beloved, reimagined Wharf district, the film is a map for city-goers and city-builders alike.
Through thoughtful narration, architect Stanton Eckstut takes the viewer into the internal theory behind the Wharf’s design, explaining how they reached their goal of building a real place, not a project.
Adeleine Geitner is a rising senior at Duke University studying public policy and economics. She is the Duke Urban Studies Initiative Fellow on Sprawl Repair and Nodal Development.
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