The Polaroid Corporation

A young photographer wanders the city taking pictures with a Polaroid 600, but on each print the silhouette of a woman on a bicycle appears. The sequence of photos makes it clear that the woman is about to be hit by a trolleybus. Based loosely on Stephen King's novella "The Sun Dog" and Julio Cortázar's short story "Blow-Up" ("Las babas del diablo").

This long-suppressed and controversial documentary was produced in 1961 for network television but never broadcast. Co-mingling cinema verité and narrative techniques, the film offers a sensitive but critical look at the slum called Cortile Cascino in the center of Palermo, Sicily where poverty and early death are constants and where the church and the Mafia compete for the inhabitants' fealty. The established church, largely ignoring the plight of its parishioners, nonetheless voices its outrage when a faith healer draws large crowds. The Mafia runs an illegal slaughterhouse and controls the concession to funerals but also distributes free food to the district's hungry residents. In the face of relentless adversity, the women provide the only stabilizing force. The neighborhood's despair is tragically foregrounded in a sequence depicting the burial of baby who died of malnutrition. The soundtrack is composed of comments by the people, recorded and translated by the filmmakers.

A mysterious Polaroid-filmed short that showcases depth in stereo photography.