Over the month of April, MA Design Studies student Laura Belik, in conjunction with the Design Studies Forum, organized the “Latin America Documentary Screenings: Discussions Of Space,” a series of film screenings and talks focusing on the spatiality and urban environments of the region. Each event highlighted different aspects of the topic of space, with discussion topics ranging from cities, urban democracy, and social justice to public spaces, the commons, and displacement.
The first screening, held on April 6th, featured the film Elevado 3.5 (3.5 Overpass), which details the lives of different characters as they relate to Minhocão (Big Worm), an elevated highway in downtown São Paulo that was built during the Brazilian military dictatorship. The film was followed by a discussion with William Morrish, Professor of Urban Ecologies at Parsons The New School for Design and João Sodré, Architect and PhD candidate at Universidade de São Paulo (FAU-USP) and co-director of the film. The second event, a screening of the film Dia de Festa (House-Warming Party) with a talk by Milano Professor Michael Cohen, was held on April 13th and focused on housing rights and squatting movements in São Paulo. The documentary chronicled the lives of four women who became the leaders of the Movement of the Homeless of the Centre of São Paulo (the MSTC).
The third and final event in the series, a screening of the short films Ilha das Flores (Isle of Flowers), directed by Jorge Furtado, and Mundano and Martha Cooper’s #vivaoscatadores, will be held tomorrow, April 27th, at 7pm in Room E 206 at 25 East 13th Street. The documentaries will be followed by a talk with New School MA/ MFA students Darcy Bender, Andrea Burgueño, Bernardo Loureiro, and Silvia Xavier. The focus of the conversation will be on issues of waste, recycling, graffiti, social justice, poverty, and social empowerment. For more information about the event, visit here!
Written by Ana Miljak
