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Press Release | 16. May 2005

First Screening of DisLocation, Sudhir Venkatesh's New Film on Chicago Public Housing

In February 2002, families living in a high-rise in the Robert Taylor Homes public housing development in Chicago were given a 180-day notice of eviction. In six months, the community that had been their home for generations would be demolished. Columbia University professor Sudhir Venkatesh's new documentary, DisLocation, chronicles the lives of families about to relocate from the 4525 South Federal high-rise as they prepare themselves for a period of change. The film will have its first public screening at 8pm on May 22 at UnionDocs in Brooklyn.

For fifteen years, Venkatesh, Director of the Center for Urban Research and Policy (CURP) at ISERP and Associate Professor of Sociology and African-American Studies, has studied public housing. In the early 1990s, he lived with several families in the notorious Robert Taylor Homes on the Southside of Chicago. The fieldwork resulted in his first book, American Project: The Rise and Fall of a Modern Ghetto (Harvard University Press, 2000). With support from the MacArthur, Ford, and Rockefeller Foundations, Venkatesh's most recent work on the Robert Taylor Homes has turned to the genre of film, a long established tradition in social science research and public policy, to capture the experiences of a community undergoing a profound transition.

Chicago began demolishing its public housing in 1996, hoping to end the isolation of "project" families from the wider city. The first stage is the relocation of tenants into new neighborhoods. For public housing families, whose household income averages $10,000 (for a family of four), leaving isolated projects represents a period of great social, psychological, and emotional change.

DisLocation documents this transition process through the lives of Charles "Chuck" Wilson and Lee-Lee Henderson. Chuck is a 29-year old tenant who has spent his entire life in Robert Taylor. He has physical disabilities and mental health problems that have made moving out difficult. Lee-Lee is a single mother on welfare who has also struggled to find a new home. Both have moved from building to building in Robert Taylor because the Housing Authority has been unable to find them homes in other Chicago neighborhoods. Unlike their neighbors who have been moving out of the development since 1996Â—the year that demolition began, Chuck and Lee-Lee represent some of the poorest residents in the development. They also represent the last families left in the community.

While they are similar in predicament, they vary in terms of their attitude and sense of hope about the impending relocation. Chuck has "faith" in the process and believes that the social workers, Housing Authority, and other agencies administering the process will help him. Lee-Lee conceives of herself as a "fighter" and is not optimistic that she will find a new home or that the bureaucracies will attend to her needs. Through these characters, Venkatesh conveys the mixed feelings involved in the relocation process. "Residents spoke of this as an abrupt separation, even though many were in favor of it," he emphasizes. "They experienced it as a tearing away from their roots." Both Chuck and Lee-Lee fear that they will be moved to another housing "project" instead of a new apartment in the private marketÂ—a fate deeply worrisome to public housing residents because of gang boundaries and other safety issues.

Above all, DisLocation is a story of the ways in which individuals respond to a period of change. It is a tale of courage, hope, and survival.

DisLocation's first public screening was held at UnionDocs, 322 Union Avenue in Brooklyn, New York, on Sunday May 22 at 8pm. For more information, visit the DisLocation website.

Biographies

Director: Sudhir Alladi Venkatesh is Professor of Sociology & African-American Studies at Columbia University in the City of New York. He has been studying public housing for fifteen years. He lived with families in the Robert Taylor Homes for several years in the early 1990s. That period of fieldwork has led to several books and articles, including American Project: The Rise and Fall of a Modern Ghetto (Harvard University Press, 2000). He recently completed a radio documentary that aired on public radio and that received the Associated Press-Midwest Division's award for "Best Documentary." Venkatesh draws on his long-term relationship with families to create an intimate and educational portrait of the state of public housing in America. This is his first film.
Producer: Larry Kamerman. Untitled Fall 2003 (2003) Â– Director, Writer - Original feature length motion picture. currently in production; It Goes On (2002) Â– Director, Writer, Producer - Original short motion picture; With The Filmmaker (2001) Â– Co-Director, Executive Producer Â– direct cinema portraits of Martin Scorsese, Robert Duvall, Jane Campion and Wes Anderson; The Daytrippers (1998) Â– Executive Producer - motion picture starring Liev Schreiber, Stanley Tucci, Hope Davis and Parker Posey; Film Forum Â– Member, Board of Directors.
Editor: Brock Graham is a freelance editor and videographer living in New York City. He has edited several short films (including Larry Kamerman's It Goes On) and the feature film Homework (2003). In addition to his work on DisLocation, he is currently shooting a documentary about the band Hem as they record their debut major label album. Please visit his website.