THE PRUITT-IGOE MYTH

Don't let the ungainly title throw you; THE PRUITT-IGOE MYTH is one of the best documentaries of the year. Its subject is St. Louis's Pruitt-Igoe housing project--built in 1956 as a beacon of decent affordable housing for a largely black inner-city population, demolished in 1974 as a symbol of the futility of public housing. This hard-headed, heart-breaking film lucidly debunks the myths and searches out the true causes of the project's failure, while at the same time evoking the human costs through interviews with former occupants who speak movingly of the dream that Pruitt-Igoe represented and the tragedy of its decay. HDCAM video. (MR) FF

Benjamin Bolcom, composer of the soundtrack for THE PRUITT-IGOE MYTH will introduce both screenings.