Everybody Street

Cheryl Dunn's 2013 documentary takes New York street photography across a span of six decades. Bruce Davidson, Mary Ellen Mark, Jill Freedman, Martha Cooper and Bruce Gilden are among those watched at work. The interest lies in the difference of method. One photographer shoots from very close and without permission, another stays months in the same neighbourhood building trust; the narrative sets the two attitudes side by side and does not say which is right. Dunn is a photographer herself and raises the legal and ethical limits of shooting in the street. Archive frames alternate with present-day footage, and the change in the city can be read in the background. Who it's for: those who like the history of photography and documentary about New York. Who it's not for: viewers expecting a technical lesson; the film does not go into equipment or settings.