The award-winning "West 47th Street"
"Four People You've Tried Not to Notice"
Documentary Screening at Workbar Cambridge
45 Prospect Street, Cambridge, MA (Central Square)
Thurs Feb. 2, 2017 5:30pm - 7:15pm
"Must See" --- Newsweek. "Remarkable" -- Washington Post
Aired on PBS' POV and "Best Documentary" at Atlanta and DC Independent FIlm Festivals
West 47th Street is the highly-acclaimed, feature-length documentary film produced by Bill Lichtenstein and the Peabody Award-winning Lichtenstein Creative Media.
At times hilarious and at other times tragic, the film follows three years in the lives of four people with serious mental illness, and provides an unprecedented window on the lives of people who are often feared and ignored, seldom understood.
The film's producer, Bill Lichtenstein, enjoyed an extraordinary degree of access to their lives, and shot more than 350 hours of tape -- off and on the streets, in and out of hospitals and homeless shelters, healthy -- and psychotic. The resulting stories, both warm and dramatic, are about people who approach tremendous obstacles with humor, optimism and grace.
West 47th Street represents a radical return to cinéma vérité, without interviews or narration. Set at Fountain House, a rehabilitation program for people with serious mental illness located in New York City's Hell's Kitchen. The film aired nationally on the PBS showcase for documentary films, P.O.V., and in film festivals and theatres internationally winning the Atlanta Film Festival and DC Independent Film Festival. 83 minutes.
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Reviews (What they said about West 47th Street) :
“Must See: Mental Health Gets Real." There is Hollywood’s too-perfect version of mental illness—‘Ordinary People,’ ‘Rain Man,’ ‘A Beautiful Mind.’ And then there’s the raw stuff of ‘West 47th Street' . . . The film debuts at a time when the country’s mental-health system is under fire. A recent presidential commission called it ‘fragmented, disconnected and often inadequate.’ For those battling mental illness, better services are critical. So is respect.” -- Newsweek magazine
“Editors’ Choice – Pick of the Night” – TV Guide
“Its craftsmanship, thoroughness, smart editing and sensitive but clear-eyed handling of its delicate subject matter make it a work of remarkable passion and uncommon decency. Most amazing of all, West 47th Street has the power to be a life-altering cinema experience. Watch it and you'll no longer be able to pass those troubled souls on the street without noticing, without caring, without understanding that attention must be paid."
-- Dennis King, Tulsa World
“The most wrenching moments in the Cleveland International Film Festival belonged not to any scripted plot, but to a special preview of this vérité documentary masterpiece.” -- Cleveland International Film Festival
Comments by producer Bill Lichtenstein. Snacks and beverages.
