My video editing from yesterday got in the way of my goal of reviewing of Great Expectations Film contest finalist so I'll catch up with two for today.
So let's talk first about Philadelphia Child. In the next post, I'll get to Northern Liberties. (As you can see I've provided links back to the Great Expectations website and I encourage you to register there and provide feedback for these films. The contest may be over but I'm sure they'd love to hear what you thought about them. Please consider copying that feedback into the comments section of this post.)
Philadelphia Child was produced and directed by Nadine Patterson, who grew up in Nicetown-Tioga and now lives in the Mount Airy neighborhood of Philadelphia. The film doesn't follow the same, straightforward, narrative flow of the previous film, so don't expect "once upon a time" and "happily ever after." Instead, this film uses some haunting poetry and gritty imagery to tell the story of the child who grows up in this city. The poetry and the images are very much left up to the interpretation of the individual viewer.
The edits are jumpy and the filters used on the video take the viewer out of any kind of comfort zone and makes one question the experience that a Philly child goes through as he or she moves towards being a Philly adult. Like the film itself, such a childhood is filled with stops and starts, advances and reverses.
But in the end, as the film shows us, a child born in this city, while facing multiple obstacles, also has countless opportunities and sources of inspiration from what is a truly unique city. It also reminds us that each of us is a child of this city, with our beliefs and conventions constantly being shaped by the experiences - both good and bad - that this city has to offer us.
Click "Continue Reading" to check out the film.