Grey City
(Cidade cinza)
Guilherme Valiengo, Marcelo Mesquita | Documentary
2013 | 80 minutes | Brazil
A new form of graffiti was in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The works of artists such as Os Gêmeos, Nunca, and Nina spread from city streets to art galleries and museums around the world. When City Hall implemented a law to “combat visual pollution”, a graffiti war against the local government is unleashed.
Synopsis
On the streets of São Paulo, Brazil, a new form of graffiti was born. Like wildfire, the works of artists such as Os Gêmeos, Nunca, and Nina spread through the streets of the city and then to art galleries and museums around the world.
Nevertheless, City Hall implemented the Clean City Law in an effort to “combat visual pollution,” hiring a small team to paint over graffiti deemed aesthetically unpleasing. When a large-scale mural was painted over, the artists unleashed a graffiti war against the local government, giving birth to one of the most creative resistance movements in Latin American art. Together, the artists worked to recreate lost artwork in an act that embodied the tensions within the city over who decides which pieces are art and which pieces get painted over.
Grey City is not only a documentary about graffiti artists and their work but also a film about the city and streets of São Paulo, which are simultaneously a battlefield and a confluence point—with graffiti serving as the voice of the populace.
Reviews
"★★★1/2 Well-known Brazilian artists...speak with great passion about their work, but the film also presents the bureaucratic response to the graffiti affair in a mature manner that is often lacking in similarly-themed documentaries. Highly Recommended." — P. Hall, Video Librarian
"Informative. Stunning. Gripping and screaming for graffiti recognition, Grey City is a must-see and must-talk about film." — Ana Young, Sounds and Colors
"Taking viewers to a city whose graffiti talent is renowned among street-art connoisseurs but less beloved by City Hall, Grey City finds its drama embodied in a huge stretch of wall -- once filled with art, then erased -- leading into a heavily trafficked highway underpass. Marcelo Mesquita and Guilherme Valiengo take this controversy as an excuse to get to know the city's underground stars in a lively doc that will please fans of the global graffiti scene..." — John DeFore, The Hollywood Reporter
"Weaving together an entertaining storyline, through the voices of famed artists...the film uses street art as a platform to portray a variety of interesting topics: art philosophy, political corruptness, and how a behemoth city can be full of peculiar charm." — Nick Partyka, The Fox is Black
"The artists devote a lot of their screen time to discussing the philosophical ramifications of street art. In that, it's art that is owned by no one owner, but rather to the people...It's an engrossing discussion that the film does a fantastic job of conveying." — Nick Partyka, The Fox is Black
Citation
Main credits
Mesquita, Marcelo (film director)
Mesquita, Marcelo (screenwriter)
Mesquita, Marcelo (film producer)
Valiengo, Guilherme (film director)
Valiengo, Guilherme (film producer)
Siffredi, Peppe (screenwriter)
Lacerda, Felipe (screenwriter)
Other credits
Cinematography, Tiago Tambelli; editor, Felipe Lacerda; music, Daniel Ganjaman.
Citation
Cataloging
Pragda subjects
Culture + Identity
Latin American Studies
Political Science
Sociology
South America
Urban Studies
Visual Arts
Keywords
Clips
Festivals
DOCNYC
Montréal World Film Festival
São Paulo International Film Festival
Zürich Film Festival
Switzerland
Warsaw Film Festival
DIRECTOR: Guilherme Valiengo, Marcelo Mesquita
NATIONALITY: Brazil
YEAR: 2013
GENRE: Documentary
LANGUAGE: Portuguese
COLOR / B&W: Color
GRADE LEVEL: High School, College, Adults
SUBTITLE/CC: AVAILABLE
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: NOT AVAILABLE
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