Skidrow + Warrendale

Skidrow
Canada 1956. Director: Allan King

Allan King’s first work was made for CBC Vancouver’s Film Unit and won the director his first Canadian Film Award. John Grierson called it "one of the greatest Canadian films ever made." A study of down-and-out men living rough on Vancouver’s poorest streets, Skidrow features powerful, lyrical narration scripted by writer and social worker Ben Maartman as well as intimate, matter-of-fact interviews with the homeless themselves. B&W, 38 mins.

Warrendale
Canada 1967. Director: Allan King

"As explosive today as it was when first released, Warrendale is considered one of the world’s great modern documentaries. The film chronicles seven weeks in the lives of 12 emotionally disturbed children and the therapists who force them to confront their pain. At the core of the film are images of the children acting out their unbearable rage while being physically restrained by the Warrendale staff using their ‘holding therapy’ approach...This classic of direct cinema established Allan King as a leading practitioner of the approach, which King also referred to as ‘actuality drama.’ Although the film is an undeniably emotional experience, it does raise formal and ethical questions similar to those posed by other direct cinema films: How is the material selected? Is this a violation of privacy? The CBC, surprised by the extreme language the adolescents often used, sat on the film for months before deciding not to broadcast it" (The Canadian Film Encyclopedia). Winner of three Canadian Film Awards — for Best Feature, Best Direction and "Film of the Year" — Warrendale led Jean Renoir to proclaim King "a great artist." B&W, 100 mins.