WORLD FAIR is a short documentary that explores memory and amateur films through a singular, spectacular event: the 1939 New York World’s Fair. On the heels of the Great Depression and with war mounting overseas, millions of people traveled to a former ash dump in Queens to catch a fleeting glimpse of a better future. WORLD FAIR weaves together the memories of former fairgoers with vibrant archival footage and a textured original score, transporting viewers to the futuristic and hopeful realm of the 1939 New York World’s Fair. As a meditation on the ways we preserve the past, WORLD FAIR celebrates the stories contained in photographs and illustrations, home movies, and the ephemera we collect and save. WORLD FAIR premiered at the 2013 Independent Film Festival Boston.
Join the filmmaker
Amanda Murray, subjects from the film, and Queens Museum registrar and curator
Louise Weinberg in a post-screening discussion. Following the program, QM Education Director
Jason Yoon will be available in the adjacent
Worlds Fair Visible Storage Exhibit for a brief tour.
About the Filmmaker:
Amanda Murray (Director/Producer) is a filmmaker with the independent documentary production company Wicked Delicate Films. WORLD FAIR, her award-winning directorial debut, has screened at film festivals and cultural venues nationwide since its 2013 premiere. Amanda is also a producer of the feature-length documentary THE SEARCH FOR GENERAL TSO, a 2014 Tribeca Film Festival world premiere. She was formerly a curator at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, and has worked with the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, National Building Museum, and National Trust for Historic Preservation. She holds a B.A. in American Studies from the College of William and Mary, and an M.A. in Public Humanities from Brown University.
Film website: www.worldfairfilm.com Run time: 25 minutes