ArCHIVING PHILADELPHIA ON FILM
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CLASSROOM ON THE STREETThis series of programs presents a selection of these bio-documentaries, most of which are shown publicly for the first time since the 1960s. Fascinating historical documents in their own right, the films depict life in inner-city neighborhoods, medical institutions, and schools. They are concerned with local histories, social change, and they address issues of race, children’s psychology and psychiatry, health care, and anti-war protest from the perspective of adolescents and young adults.
DATE
October 2025? LOCATION Public Trust & Live-streamed |
SOL WORTH'S METHODS
Starting in 1960, Sol Worth taught the Documentary Film Laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School of Communications, and he initiated filmmaking projects with African American and Puerto Rican youth from inner-city neighborhoods in Philadelphia and New York. He encouraged the filmmakers “to show their concerns” and to represent on film “a view of themselves and the world around them.”
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DEMOCRATIC STRUGGLES
OPERATION USAK // 1964
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The Filmmakers were working on a film about a folk singer. When they heard the news of president Kennedy’s assasination they changed their plan and went to Washington D.C. to document people’s reactions and the funeral preparations in the capital.
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BY
Stephen Karpf, Joseph Salviola
Stephen Karpf, Joseph Salviola
FOR AGES 10 to ADULT // 1966Anti-war film, “exploration of the draft”, filmed at draft board and induction center in Philadelphia. Combining footage shot at the draft board and induction center in Philadelphia with scenes of children playing with military toys, this film examines the “machinery for delivering young men to the military”.
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CREATOR
Ben Achtenberg, Richard Chalfen AFFILIATION CEE Faculty Fellow |
Dona Nobis Pacem // 1967 |
The peace movement. Protest marches filmed in Cleveland, New Haven (Yale University campus), Washington D.C., New York, and Philadelphia. The film includes shots of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Robert Kennedy, and the experimental filmmaker Shirley Clarke (herself filming a protest march). Christopher Speeth made this film immediately after graduating from the Annenberg School.
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CREATOR
Christopher Speeth
Christopher Speeth
YOUTH PERSPECTIVES
Childhood’s Noon // 1963Children’s games and fairy tales as “preparation for adulthood.” This film shows a group of children aged 8 to 10 from a racially integrated elementary school at play in a succession of games. Reflecting on the process of growing up, the film also confronts racist prejudices. 
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CREATED BY
David Shepard, Mark Blum |
WALLS OF SKIN // 1964
A film about an autistic boy filmed at the Eastern Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute. Depicting the conditions of the boy’s institutionalization, the film identifies with the perspective of the child. CREATOR:
Rita Mitra, Martin Spinelli, Arthur Plutzer |
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NOT MUCH TO DO // 1966 |
A film made by African American teenagers from an inner-city neighborhood in Philadelphia marked for “urban renwal” about their search for fun and adventure to fill the long summer days. The film was sponsored by the Tabernacle Presbyterian Church and supervised by Ben Achtenberg.
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MAXIMO'S FILM // 1968
Made by a fifteen-year-old Puerto Rican/African American boy at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, the film combines a heist story with scenes of youth playing and fooling around in East Harlem. The filmmaker also experiments with various camera and editing techniques.
CREATOR:
Maximo
Maximo
LOCAL HISTORIES AND ETHNOGRAPHIES
Sweet Lavender // 1965“A film about withdrawal and desertion,” focusing on a woman who sells lavender sachets In Philadelphia’s Center City area. Includes shots of a parade on Benjamin Franklin Avenue
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CREATOR
Taylor Cushmore, Richard Domrzalski, Eve Feldman, Claude Koprowski |
Nancy, Henry and Elizabeth // 1973by Robert Aibel, L. Fagan
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Claudio the Cheese King // 1974
The owner family and employees of an Italian cheese store in the Italian Market section of Philadelphia are shown and interviewed in this film. The store still exists and is still owned by the family.
CREATOR
Howard Arenstein, James O‘Neill
Howard Arenstein, James O‘Neill
PARADICE // 1979
An urban ethnography of Atantic City in the 1970s. Images of hotel ruins, empty streets, the beach, and the boardwalk provide the background for interviews with elderly residents and real estate developers. By Tom Smith, Brian Rusted
Members Only // 1980s
A film by Juan Mandelbaum
This film examines class divisions through looking at the informal hierarchy of female Philadelphia Art Museum, tour guides. Juan Mandelbaum is an award winning documentary filmmaker.
Christmas Decorations // 1989
The film shows the installation of Christmas decorations on streets in Philadelphia. Montage is used to create a visual comment on what is shown, parts of the film were shot in the Italian Market Section.