Tiny: The Life of Erin Blackwell

Tiny: The Life of Erin Blackwell

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, was introduced in filmmaker Martin Bell, photographer Mary Ellen Mark, and journalist Cheryl McCall's earlier film as a brash fourteen-year-old living precariously on the margins in Seattle. Now a forty-four year-old mother of ten, Blackwell reflects with Mark on the journey they’ve experienced together, from Blackwell’s struggles with addiction to her regrets to her dreams for her own children, even as she sees them being pulled down the same path of drugs and desperation. Interweaving three decades’ worth of Mark’s photographs and footage that includes previously unseen outtakes from STREETWISE, this is a heartrending, deeply empathetic portrait of a family struggling to break free of the cycle of trauma, as well as a summation of the life’s work of Mark, an irreplaceable artistic voice.

Tiny: The Life of Erin Blackwell
  • TINY: The Life of Erin Blackwell

    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...

Extras

  • STREETWISE Revisited: Tiny at 20

    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...

  • STREETWISE Revisited: Erin

    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...

  • STREETWISE Revisited: Rat

    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...

  • The Amazing Plastic Lady

    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...