Contact Us FAQ Français
Home / Death of a Skyline - DVD

Death of a Skyline - DVD ONF/NFB


Catalogue Number:  NFB522264
Producer:  National Film Board Of Canada
Producers:  Jerry Krepakevich, Bonnie Thompson, Graydon McCrea
Directors:  Bryan Smith
Producing Agencies:  National Film Board of Canada (Montreal)
Subject:  Agriculture, Architecture, Documentary
Language:  English
Country Of Origin:  Canada
Copyright Year:  2003
Running Time:  41:43
Closed Captions:  Yes


Click here for pricing
A bulldozer tears into the side of a wooden grain elevator. The magnificent prairie landmark crumples to the ground. Once, more than 5,000 Alberta grain elevators graced the skyline. Today they're being razed to make way for modern concrete structures.

Are these "prairie cathedrals" being destroyed due to obsolescence or corporate profit? In this film, a lively cast of characters reveals the story of these disappearing landmarks. The citizens of Mayerthorpe, Alberta fight to save their elevator as demolition day approaches. A Montana couple, Bruce and Barbara Selyem, race to photograph elevators across the continent before they are ripped down. Pete Kirk salvages grain-worn wood from demolition sites to build furniture and recycle a piece of prairie history.

With archival film clips, interviews and dramatic footage of tumbling grain elevators, Death of a Skyline explores the history and significance of these familiar prairie structures. Wooden grain elevators have been at the heart of North America's economic, cultural and physical landscape for more than a century. As they continue to fall, will all that remains be memories of a vanishing way of life?


Browse Our Collection By Subject

View All Subjects