Pretty Vacant
Pretty Vacant is a short documentary, which captures the story of a site-specific community art project in the Slavic Village Neighborhood in Cleveland, during which abandoned and blighted houses slated for demolition are transformed into temporary art installations. Each year thousands of people visit these installations, which were once cherished family homes, then abandoned and left to decay. Before they are demolished, three curators and a large team of artists turn the old kitchens, bathrooms and bedrooms into art you can walk into. It is a funeral in a way, for these homes about to be demolished. This project tells the story of this transformation, exploring themes of decay, death, rebirth and resilience in the context of neighborhood revitalization through art.
This is a poignant story that resonates with most Midwestern cities, which have lost a large part of their population since the 1970s, leaving their economies in a state of contraction for decades to come. Cleveland lost about half of its population since the 1960s. Then came the foreclosure crises in 2000s which left many neighborhoods as half ghost towns. Slavic Village was in the center of this crisis. Historically a bustling center of Czech and Polish immigrant life, now it has become a blighted wasteland. But what to do? How to honor the past and move on to a brighter future? Pretty Vacant answers these questions and more through an observational, character-centered approach and leave audiences pondering the story of cities as living things.
This is a poignant story that resonates with most Midwestern cities, which have lost a large part of their population since the 1970s, leaving their economies in a state of contraction for decades to come. Cleveland lost about half of its population since the 1960s. Then came the foreclosure crises in 2000s which left many neighborhoods as half ghost towns. Slavic Village was in the center of this crisis. Historically a bustling center of Czech and Polish immigrant life, now it has become a blighted wasteland. But what to do? How to honor the past and move on to a brighter future? Pretty Vacant answers these questions and more through an observational, character-centered approach and leave audiences pondering the story of cities as living things.
Watch Pretty Vacant here.
Screenings:
- Better Cities Film Festival, Detroit, MI, 2021. Emerging Ideas Award.
- CINETEKTON! Festival Internacional de Cine y Arquitectura, Puebla, Mexico, 2021.
- Capital Filmmakers Festival Berlin, Berlin, Germany, 2021.
- Mosaic World Film Festival, Rockford, IL, 2021.
- Greater Cleveland Urban Film Festival (GCUFF), Cleveland, OH, 2021.
- University Film & Video Association Conference (UFVA) Screening, 2021.
- Urban Visions: Beyond the Ideal City, Bologna, Italy, 2021 - Honorable Mention.
- Fine Arts Film Festival, Venice, CA, 2021.
- American Documentary and Animation Film Festival, Palm Spring, CA, 2021.
- International Changing Perspectives Film Festival, Istanbul, Turkey, 2021.
- WIFI Film Festival, Topeka, KS, 2021.
- International Fine Arts Film Festival, Santa Barbara, CA, 2021.
- Queen City Film Festival, Cumberland, MD, 2021 – Best Short Documentary Award.
- Frozen River Film Festival, Winona, MN, 2021.
- FilmArte Festival, Madrid, Spain, 2020 - Special Jury Award.
- The Cut Film Series, Canton, OH, 2020.
- Essex DocFest, Essex, UK, 2020 - Special Jury Award.
- Chagrin Documentary Film Festival, Chagrin Falls, OH, 2020.