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Citizen Jane Showing at the Cable Car
Fri May 19, 2017 at 4:00 am
May 19, 2017, Cable Car Cinema, 204 South Main Street, Providence, RI.
n the 1950s and ’60s, Jane Jacobs, the author of the 1961 classic The Death and Life of Great American Cities, took on seemingly indomitable city planners, principally tyrannical master builder Robert Moses, in a series of epic battles over historic neighborhoods such as Soho, Greenwich Village, and Little Italy. Working to protect beloved areas from the wrecking ball of urban renewal projects and highways that threatened to tear them apart or obliterate them completely, she championed the role of local residents in decision-making and ultimately influenced approaches to public transit, urban design, and public policy.
Jacob’s activism resonates loudly in our present time as grassroots movements rise up to resist power-based bullying and autocratic authority. She was not only a powerful writer but one of the most notable woman leaders in activism who spoke truth to power. By showcasing her victories over Robert Moses, and the cohort of urban planners in the period, CITIZEN JANE provides us with an early activist playbook, telling the stories of Jacobs’ victories over monolithic forces determined to destroy treasured parts of New York City – as well as many other cities. Her story – one of a citizen soldier determined to fight – becomes a veritable “how to” for organizing around a ground-up protest movement against a seemingly unmovable autocracy. The activist spirit personified by Jacobs is alive today, as we saw at the women’s’ march when millions took to the streets – a protest movement Jacobs would surely have admired and encouraged.
Citizen Jane is produced by Robert Hammond, co-founder of Friends of the High Line, and Corey Reeser and Matt Tyrnauer of Altimeter Films.
Watch the trailer here.
Fri, 5/19: 4:00p 6:00p 8:00p
Sat, 5/20: 12:00p 2:00p 4:00p 6:00p 8:00p
Sun, 5/21: 12:00p 2:00p 4:00p 6:00p 8:00p
Mon, 5/22: 4:30p 6:30p 8:30p