Statues in cities bear witness to a variety of events. During my visits, I wandered through the streets, capturing images of statues and street art. I then filmed around them to capture the essence of each city. Currently, there are around 200 short videos available on YouTube, showcasing these moments. Below, I’ve included the ones that are most special to me. But on the Youtube channel Facing cities you can find many more.
The front page video explaining what the channel is about
For this very personal video, I went back to Lodz in Poland where I wrote my master thesis and basically lived three months under communism. The video compares the city Lódz in Poland in the 1980s with 2022. The movie is called walls, as the Berlin wall collapsed in the meantime, making the city modern and European with many murals. The music is also called walls (Mury) and is an anti communist protest song from 1978 by Jacek Kaczmarski.
My most watched video on Youtube: Oldtimers in Cuba. With the great song Yo vengo de la loma by Aguas del Guaso.
The film with the best idea is I think the one in Marseille, where I compared the prehistoric paintings in the Cosquer caves with present day street art.
I made so many films about the city I may love most: Venice and the modern art Biennale taking place every two years. This is just one of them.
Or just from my home village in the Netherlands where I lived so many years in the middle of the famous flower fields.
Or right now in Copenhagen. The light show to make the winter bearable.
When I lived in Geneva in 2013, I made many films there as well. This one about the famous fountain that I could even see from my kitchen window.
This one is if you like modern art. About the Mark Rothko exhibition in Paris in 2023/2024.
And during Covid, I went into the red light district of Amsterdam: a ghost town.
And finally, this is my first video and how it all started. In 2009 or so. When I got up early and discovered a small but impressive collection of faces in St Emilion. Not knowing yet that I had to face a hangover in the years to come.
Fred Lafeber 