Video: New York Without New Yorkers
Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
For the past several weeks, filmmaker Daniel Pagel has been venturing out to capture footage of New York City under lockdown. He gives us these two short documentaries, shot in Manhattan and Brooklyn, of New York stripped of nearly all human activity.
Tragic, haunting and disturbingly beautiful, his footage reveals the void left by COVID-19 on our city, where our statues, bridges, parks, squares and train stations stand in stark relief as monuments to what is missing: people.
Nevertheless, as you’ll see, Pagel offers glimpses of hope and of life. New York is down but it is not dead.
The score to the first film is entitled “Birdies” and was provided by Juan Calavera. “The Request,” which serves as the score to the second, comes courtesy of singer and Elvis Costello collaborator Kitten Kuroi.
— Indy Staff
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