"Stations of the Elevated" director Manfred Kirchheimer, ‘Indispensable’ New York Filmmaker, Dies at 93
“The first film to point a camera at the graffiti movement in New York City was Stations of the Elevated, which debuted at the New York Film Festival in 1981.
The film hasn't been seen much since, except by generations of graffiti fans and writers who watched it on VHS tapes. Now it's being re-released on the big screen, with a showing Friday at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. It will hit screens around the country this fall.
Stations of the Elevated is not a documentary in the usual sense. It's only 45 minutes long; there's no narrative and hardly any dialogue. The camera follows subway cars painted from top to bottom with vibrant graffiti compositions over a soundtrack of jazz by Charles Mingus.
One critic compared Stations to a nature film, in which director Manny Kirchheimer stalks graffiti-covered subway cars in their native habitat.”
-Stations of the Elevated on NPR's All Things Considered
On June 27th, 2014, the Mingus Dynasty performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music for the above mentioned re-release of Manny Kirchheimer's 1981 film "Stations of the Elevated".