Ming of Harlem: Twenty One Storeys in the Air

Jul 22 2016 N/A 1h 11m
Documentary

Ming of Harlem: Twenty One Storeys in the Air is an only-in-New-York account of Ming, Al, and Antoine Yates, who cohabited in a high-rise social housing apartment at Drew-Hamilton complex in Harlem for several years until 2003, when news of their dwelling caused a public outcry and collective outpouring of disbelief. On the discovery that Ming was a 500-pound pound Tiger and Al a seven-foot alligator, their story took on an astonishing dimension. The film frames Yates’s recollections with a poetic study of Ming and Al, the predators’ presence combined with a text by philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy, reimagining the circumstances of the wild inside, animal names, strange territories, and human-animal relations.

Plot

A documentary exploring secret lives, behavior and extreme levels of human-beast intimacy and communication, focusing on the 'only in New York' story of Antoine Yates and his cohabitation in a Harlem high-rise with Ming, a five-hundred-pound tiger and Al, a seven-foot alligator, combined with filmic observation of predators in domesticated geographies.

Written by

Jean-Luc Nancy

Directed by

Phillip Warnell

Cast

Antoine Yates, Rajiv, Brianna

Crew

View crew

Awards

2 wins & 5 nominations

Scores
# of Votes
125
Average Rating
5.3 out of 10
Metascore
NA
Popularity
NA