shadow work
2023 · 10m · USA
Directed by Lorenzo Bradford
Genres: documentary, essay film, experimental
Tones: contemplative, dark, provocative
An experimental archival documentary excavating the Pruitt-Igoe housing project in St. Louis, threading Black urban dispossession through the bizarre proximity of Cold War radiological weapons testing. Built from Super 8 scraps and rare 1969 footage in three 'archive notes.'
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Finally — an archival doc that refuses to launder American history into something palatable. Bradford yokes Pruitt-Igoe to radiological testing and just lets the rot speak for itself.
Three archive notes splicing Super 8 and 1969 footage to expose Cold War radiation overlapping Pruitt-Igoe — Bradford works in the Arthur Jafa and Thom Andersen lineage with real research. Essential mode of essay film.
Three 'archive notes' splicing Super 8 footage with rare 1969 clips to expose Cold War radiation experiments overlapping Pruitt-Igoe — that's an essay-film structure with real archaeological rigor. Bradford excavating buried proximity is the craft.