In 1983, filmmaker Martin Bell, photographer Mary Ellen Mark, and journalist Cheryl McCall set out to tell the stories of those society had left behind: homeless and runaway teenagers living on the margins of Seattle. The resulting film, the Academy Award–nominated documentary landmark STREETWISE, follows an unforgettable group of children who, driven from their broken homes, survive by hustling, panhandling, and dumpster diving. Among the project’s most haunting and enduring faces was Tiny, an iron-willed fourteen-year-old who the filmmakers would continue to track for the next thirty years. Tracing her journey from lost youth to mother of ten children of her own, the long awaited follow-up documentary TINY: THE LIFE OF ERIN BLACKWELL is a heartrending, deeply empathetic portrait of a woman and a family struggling to break free from a cycle of trauma.
Directed by Martin Bell • 1984 • United States
Seattle, 1983. Taking their camera to the streets of what was supposedly America’s most livable city, filmmaker Martin Bell, photographer Mary Ellen Mark, and journalist Cheryl McCall set out to tell the stories of those society had left behind: hom...
Directed by Martin Bell • 2016 • United States
Starring Erin Blackwell
Thirty years in the making, TINY: THE LIFE OF ERIN BLACKWELL continues to follow one of the most indelible subjects of STREETWISE, a groundbreaking documentary on homeless and runaway teenagers. Erin Blackwell, a.k.a. Tiny, w...
This commentary featuring director Martin Bell was recorded in early 2021.
This interview with director Martin Bell was recorded in 2020.
In this interview, conducted in February 2021, editor Nancy Baker discusses her work with director Martin Bell and her approach to shaping the narrative of STREETWISE.
Between STREETWISE and TINY: THE LIFE OF ERIN BLACKWELL, Martin Bell directed two short films that also document Blackwell’s life. TINY AT 20 and ERIN, made more than a decade apart in 1993 and 2005, were stepping-stones on the way to TINY: THE LIFE OF ERIN BLACKWELL and reveal not just a life in...
Between STREETWISE and TINY: THE LIFE OF ERIN BLACKWELL, Martin Bell directed two short films that also document Blackwell’s life. TINY AT 20 and ERIN, made more than a decade apart in 1993 and 2005, were stepping-stones on the way to TINY: THE LIFE OF ERIN BLACKWELL and reveal not just a life in...
Between STREETWISE and TINY: THE LIFE OF ERIN BLACKWELL, Martin Bell directed two short films that also document Blackwell’s life. TINY AT 20 and ERIN, made more than a decade apart in 1993 and 2005, were stepping-stones on the way to TINY: THE LIFE OF ERIN BLACKWELL and reveal not just a life in...
Between 1989 and 1990, photographer Mary Ellen Mark went to India to document the lives of circus performers—a journey that resulted in her book “Indian Circus,” published in 1993. In 1992, Mark and director Martin Bell returned to India to film many of the same performers. The resulting short, T...
