The Importance of Capturing Social History Through Cinema
By Lim Lung Chieh

"Metrobranding" is a term that describes an action taken by a city to define itself from the rest of the world. This discussion on the subject consists of three filmmakers — Tata Amaral, Wim Wenders and Ning Ying – as well as urbanist Deyan Sudjic. All three filmmakers have made films that have both defined the cities as well as documented their developments.

Moderator Vincenz Hediger sets up the topic of the discussion by bringing up three moments in film history. The 1st moment is On the Waterfront by Elia Kazan, which was distinctive for its on-location shooting of the New York harbor, which has since ceased to exist due to commercialism and modern developments. The 2nd moment is the Woody Allen film, Manhattan, of which its opening montage depicting New York City views with Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" and a voice-over track of Allen struggling to define what New York is playing in the background, is a declaration of love to the city. The 3rd moment is The World Is Not Enough, a Bond film which opens with a chase sequence set next to the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao.

The reason Hediger brought up these films is because of their effect on the cities they have been set in. With the demolishment of the New York Harbor, the Kazan film has preserved this lost segment of the city along with its social history (film is about dock workers dealing with labor strife not uncommon in 1950s). Manhattanwas a successful attempt in immortalizing a city through the power of cinema. The Bond film is an example of the current form of metrobranding, a clear attempt by financiers to advertise a city as a tourist attraction.

Since her debut feature, Tata Amaral has tried to define the city of Sao Paulo cinematically. Her latest film, Antonia, was shot in the SoHo district, which is not as developed compared to the rest of the city. Her motivation to do Antonia, to capture its urban reality, was fueled by witnessing the youths there who were capable of finding hope within their corrupted society.

The films of Wim Wenders have defined many cities with their distinct images and titles such as Paris, Texas and Wings Of Desire, of which its German title is actually "The Sky Above Berlin". Wenders' decisions on where he shoots his films are either based on whether or not he feels a connection to the city or if he aims to capture an environment he knew was going to be demolished or creative decisions rather than preconceived city branding. For example, his decision to shoot Wings Of Desire in Berlin is quite obviously because of his connection with it as he himself inhabits the city. Regarding environmental preservation, Wenders says that it is the responsibility of a filmmaker to do this. One cannot help but agree with Wenders as Ning Ying narrates to the audience the current situation in Beijing where "entire neighborhoods are demolished within a night, while our memories associated with these buildings are also stolen from us." Ning prefers to make films that document present social changes. Her Beijing Trilogy, which was completed in the 90s, documented the "economic reform that was, at the time, becoming more and more visible."

Recently, more producers and institutions have recognized the economical benefits of city branding of which many filmmakers give into because it is economically sensible. But, besides being an economic resource, a city can also act as an aesthetic resource to filmmakers. In Europe, an institution chooses one country yearly to be the European "Capital of Culture". Wenders was selected as part of a group of filmmakers hired to represent Lisbon, the 1995 "Capital of Culture", in a series of films. Wenders expressed his fascination towards the unique soundscape of the city with Lisbon Story, telling the story of a sound engineer traveling through the city recording various sounds.

Deyan Sudjic suggests that perhaps the utilization of the history of a city could "point the way to how some movies can go beyond evocation or catching a moment in time to try to explain what makes the city function and where it comes from." Sudjic then comments on Anthony Minghella's Breaking And Entering which he believes accomplishes this in its depiction of the transformation of the King's Cross area in London. As the yuppie architect character works in his office in the day, at night, that same area reverts into a lawless environment. It shows how time and place overlap, an indication of how cities function and what it can be.

Hediger believes that this is the beginning of a new genre of film – the "curator city film", where film artists are invited to promote the image of a city. This birth of the "curator city film" would, of course, not be entirely bred from commercial logic. Artistic freedom is provided and filmmakers will not always be told where to shoot their films and what kind of impressions they should make of the city. But the commercial logic of metrobranding is still ever-present.

Lim Lung Chieh

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