Stations of the Elevated

Stations of the Elevated (1981)

Stations of the Elevated exposes viewers to an underground art scene- that is, one found exclusively on the sides of subways and train cars. A moving portrait of late-70's NYC, the film boasts a soundtrack by jazz legends Charles Mingus & Aretha Franklin.

Date of release
1981-10-01
TMDB
7.5 / 10 (11)
Runtime
45m
Genres
Documentary
Director
Manfred Kirchheimer

Interesting facts

Stations of the Elevated is a 1981 documentary film by Manfred Kirchheimer about graffiti in New York City. It debuted at the New York Film Festival. It was re-released June 27, 2014, and shown at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and was re-released throughout the United States in the fall of 2014.

Background

Kirchheimer had come to the United States as a child in 1936 with his parents to escape Nazi Germany. He filmed Stations of the Elevated in 1977 and he had not known anyone who created graffiti before he started. Most people viewed graffiti artists as a nuisance at best and vandals at worst. Kirchheimer wanted to "elevate" their work as suggested in the title.

He told NPR that he would drive to the Bronx and film the trains going overhead:

They would come by and it would be screaming full of colors — just gorgeous ... The smart thing I did was shoot it all outdoors. Most of the lines are indoors, and the way most people see these paintings was indoors. Doing it outdoors gave a whole other perspective.

Stations of the Elevated debuted in 1981 at the New York Film Festival, but received no reviews and was essentially forgotten afterwards.

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