Architecture on Film: Chelsea on the Rocks 

The Chelsea Hotel

The next instalment in The AF's Architecture on Film series, screened at the Barbican Cinema, Silk Street, EC2Y 8DS.

Abel Ferrara (Bad Lieutenant, King of New York) turns his lens on a different kind of urban violence from his usual - in this end-of-an-era portrait of the legendary Hotel Chelsea at the moment of its brutal shift from bohemian sanctuary to boutique hotel.

Chelsea on the Rocks (UK Premiere)
USA 2008, Dir. Abel Ferrara, 88 min
The Chelsea – immortalised in song by Nico and Leonard Cohen – has (in)famously housed more countercultural icons per square foot than anywhere on earth.

A building 'where passing the threshold is like being re-born,' the film sees the growling Ferrara go through the keyhole to give voice to the building's tenants, both known (Ethan Hawke, Dennis Hopper, Milos Foreman all make cameos) and not, against the backdrop of the politics of its pending gentrification.

Jonas Mekas: Chelsea Hotel Footage
USA 1967-2009, Dir. Jonas Mekas
The screening will include intimate footage of the hotel Chelsea recorded by the celebrated artist, filmmaker and former resident, Jonas Mekas.


http://www.architecturefoundation.org.uk/programme/2009/architecture-on-film/chelsea-on-the-rocks