POV's Documentary Blog

Watch the Short Film 'City of Cranes' Online

POV is proud to announce the newest entry to our online short film festival: Eva Weber‘s City of Cranes. Watch it now on the POV website!

Cranes are a staple of the modern city skyline, as ubiquitous as the skyscrapers and towers they’re put in place to build. The film tells the story of the men and women who drive these machines — in their own words and from their own breathtaking point of view.

Originally created for BBC Channel 4’s “3 Minute Wonder” program, City of Cranes now runs 14 minutes and is divided into four chapters: “The City Above,” “The Last Topman,” “Ballet of Cranes” and “Solitary.”

Each chapter poetically represents a different aspect of cranes, including the routine of being a crane driver, the density of urban skyscrapers and the beauty of the cranes themselves. Through filmmaker Weber’s masterful camera lens, we see the cranes move with fluidity, evoking the grace of the birds that they are named after.

So sit back and enjoy watching City of Cranes — a magnificent piece of short documentary filmmaking. Even if you can’t tell a hammerhead from a luffing jib tower, you’ll enjoy the way Eva Weber’s film takes you hundreds of feet above the ground for a whole new perspective.