Julian Cooper

A monthly series of highly personal documentary films in which individuals are given a platform to discuss issues close to their heart.

In this 1972 BBC Films production, architectural historian Reyner Banham takes the viewer on a tour of what he describes as the “four ecologies” of the city of Los Angeles: Surfurbia, Foothills, The Plains of Id, and Autopia (beach, basin, foothills, freeways). Noted for his seminal book of essays, Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies, published the year before, Banham had a love affair with the City of Angels and its bold typologies. (Open Source Cities)

A documentary portrait of one of Belfast's 300 firemen. For five years Leading Fireman Dynes and the Brigade have carried out their duties in a city at war. This film was shot during a fairly quiet week - by Belfast standards. Brian Dynes, married with four children, lives in a small Protestant enclave in the Catholic Ardoyne. Even when he is at home, the shooting in the adjoining streets is a reminder that at no time can he or his family feel truly safe. When he is at the Fire Station, Brian Dynes faces unprecedented dangers. As an everyday event he may have to cope with booby traps and explosions, with physical threats from capricious mobs, and from crossfire between terrorists and the Army. It is a job in which, as Dynes says, 'humanity rises above religion or creed or class.' (BBC Genome)