MEGACITIES

Megacities is a revelatory documentary that probes both the micro and macrocosm of human experience, drawing an archetypal sketch of life in the Big City at the dawn of a new millenium. It is at once a cutting commentary on the socially marginalized and the poverty stricken, and a comprehensive vision of "the world city", the dominant habitat for the majority of the earth s population. It is pan-global in its scope, examining the lives of four different megacities, ultimately constructing one "story" that takes on a universal appeal and resonance. This film-essay offers impressions of everyday life in all its variety and complexity, intermingling street scenes with smaller, individual portraits of citizens from Mexico City, Bombay, New York and Moscow. Megacities exposes divergent forms of urban living, in metropolises situated thousands of kilometers away from one another. These people may be poles apart, both geographically and culturally, but there are close parallels in their daily existences. The film doesn t balk at revealing what constitutes urban life for a staggering proportion of the earth s population: the cruel realities of prostitution, homelessness, crime and drug addiction. But Megacities is just as much a document of resistance and hope, a testament to the courage, strength and dignity of those who manage to survive, day after day, in our sprawling metropolises.