Atlantic Film Festival 2011

The failure of North American public housing via the story of St. Louis' legendary high-rise projects is told through The Pruitt-Igoe Myth: An Urban History. Started in 1952 and demolished only 20 years later, the massive slum clearance and modernist apartment block complex provides a cautionary tale for urban planners, sociologists and anyone concerned with race relations. A bracing documentary told through archival footage, first-person testimony and some surprisingly skeptical experts, The Pruitt Igoe Myth is bracing non-fiction storytelling.