Stefan Nadelman’s film Terminal Bar produced in 2002 is a documentary of a New York City bar and its patrons. This pictorial history won the Grand Prize for Best Short at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival.

Stefan creates a visual narrative through the use of photographic stills taken by Shelly Nadelman, a bartender at Terminal Bar, to form the main composition of his film. The photographs are used to tell the story of the bar and its customers from 1973 to 1981. The chronological feel created the by Stefan’s display of images from past to present, gives the film a feel of a documentary as it looks at how individuals and the surroundings have changed over the 10 years.

The film is focused around observation, looking at change through time from a singular perspective, in this films case from the perspective of the camera lens of a bartender. The photographs Shelly shot during his ten years at the bar show the lives of people and the change that occurred which would otherwise go unnoticed if he hadn’t documented it.

While the film is predominantly made up of stills it also encompasses traditional elements of filming, text in the form of newspaper clippings, narrated voice and is also accompanied by music. The music is upbeat and has a quick pace. It links with the changing photographs, during the short break in the film with just music and stills this can be seen very clearly as the photographs create a kaleidoscopic effect which seems move and dance with the music.