Bwaise Town
Work in progress
Director, Camera, Editing: Robert Wyrod
Bwaise Town focuses on the lives of three Ugandan young men as they struggle to live up to local expections of being a man in a poor community in Kampala, Uganda. This video is a compilation of footage from Bwaise and it provides a flavor of everyday life in the area.
South Side Warriors
2002 | 30 minutes
Director, Camera, Editing, Music: Robert Wyrod
The South Side of Chicago is notorious as one of the largest areas of urban poverty in America. Yet in the shadow of the massive housing projects, a vibrant martial arts tradition has been flourishing since the 1950s. South Side Warriors is the first documentary to examine the vibrant martial arts scene on Chicago’s predominately-black South Side. Focusing on two different schools with long histories on the South Side, the film chronicles how the Asian martial arts have been adopted and adapted by African Americans to cope with life in some of America’s poorest communities.
Surviving in an Asian Megacity
2006 | 5 minutes
Director, Camera, Editing: Robert Wyrod
Additional Editing: Rachel Rinaldo
With a population of over 10 million, Indonesia’s capital Jakarta is one of Asia’s megacities. Like similar cities, there is increasing tension between an expanding elite population and a growing urban poor. The mayor of Jakarta has a solution to this problem – evict the urban poor. This video looks at life in three poor communities in Jakarta, highlighting their strategies for survival in very uncertain times.
Division + Western
2002 | 30 minutes
Director, Camera, Editing: Rachel Rinaldo
Additional Camera and Editing: Robert Wyrod
West of the lofts and rehabbed townhouses of Chicago’s trendy Wicker Park neighborhood lies Humboldt Park, the country’s second largest Puerto Rican community. Division + Western explores the connections between gentrification, colonialism, and cultural resistance in the Humboldt Park community. It illuminates the day-today fight against gentrification, and explores how the neighborhood’s cultural identity became a resource against displacement.
Maxwell Street Blues
2001 | 10 minutes
Camera, Editing: Robert Wyrod
Additional Camera: James Fraher
Maxwell Street Blues chronicles the struggle to save Chicago’s Maxwell Street community, the birthplace of the electric blues. The film contains rare archival footage of Maxwell Street in the 1940s, and documents some of the last blues performances in this historic community.
in vivo : Selected Stories of Genetic Manipulation
1996 | 10 minutes
Director, Camera, Editing, Music: Robert Wyrod
This experimental documentary examines the frontiers of human genetic engineering. It explores the ethical terrain of the emerging field of human gene therapy research and includes original interviews with the leading scientists working in this area.
Dialogo
1993 | 10 minutes
Co-director, Editing: Robert Wyrod
This two-channel video installation examined the complex cultural fabric of several New York City Latino communities. Presented at the New Museum of Contemporary Art as part of Testimonio, an exhibit of Latino culture in New York City. Photos of the installation.
Dialogo
robert wyrod 