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NY X 10
Super Power Blues
Greg Pak's film tells the story of Super Power Go Girl, a Japanese superheroine who lives in New York City and deals with endless crises -- when all she really wants to do is sleep with her boyfriend. (6 min., 40 sec.)
The Space Invaders
Black-and-white video is combined with hand-drawn animation in Marina Zurkow's unsettling, postapocalyptic (postelection) vision of a bleak and capricious future involving spies and a miscreant race of alien invaders who take over New York's desolate streets. (3 min., 40 sec.)
NYC Weights and Measures
Jem Cohen's film opens with a parade for astronaut John Glenn, then makes its way across boroughs and time to explore New York City's many moods, from loud and relentless to grave and dreamy. (5 min., 30 sec.)
Through the Ice
Jennie Livingston's film was inspired by an event that took place near her home in Brooklyn. In January 2004, some dog walkers witnessed the death of Miguel Flores in Prospect Park Lake. Livingston's neighbors wanted to save the man on the ice, but, in the end, were powerless to help. What is it that binds us together as New Yorkers, all walking on the same uncertain ground? (5 min., 30 sec.)
Routine
A visual meditation on the redundancy of the more mundane aspects of life in New York, Michael Britto's short work examines the notion of fleeting time and mortality, and makes a case for putting a little variety into the mix. (4 min., 50 sec.)
The Underminer
Based on the book by Mike Albo and Virginia Heffernan, Todd Downing's film reveals the insidious tactics of the quintessential New York "underminer," a master of passive aggression who throws his victim into a spiral of self-doubt and hopelessness every time he sees him. (5 min., 45 sec.)
A Reasonable Facsimile
Edin Veléz's multilayered video combines documentary material and narrative segments to reveal a city rife with missed connections and misunderstandings among its inhabitants. (5 min., 5 sec.)
Zero Visibility
Kathy High's science fiction scenario, about a seer who prophesies dangerous experiments being done to New York, is an allegory for the current climate of fear that has gripped the city and the nation. (5 min.)
Harlem Sistas Double Dutch
A free-spirited diva who is thriving in Harlem's new renaissance gives advice to her admiring niece in Nicole Franklin's film, which reveals how family bonds can get in the way of a woman's night out on the town. (5 min., 37 sec.)
E=nyc2
Structured as a series of observational vignettes, Kimi Takesue's visually driven piece features New Yorkers moving through self-contained, yet interconnected worlds as they pursue dreams, earn a living, escape into fantasy, and find ways to enjoy the day. (5 min., 15 sec.)
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Classic New York
Broadway by Light
William Klein's 1958 work includes extraordinary, almost surreal images of blinking and flickering advertising billboards and neon signs. Despite their obsessive, brainwashing messages, they are beautiful and entrancing. (10 min., 25 sec.)
Daybreak Express
Set to music by Duke Ellington, D. A. Pennebaker's 1958 classic short is a delightful journey through a day in the life of New York via a subway ride on the Third Avenue El that captures the various stunning angles and architecture of the city. (5 min., 30 sec.)
In the Street
This influential work by Helen Levitt, Janice Loeb, and James Agee, filmed in the streets of East Harlem from 1946 to 1952 using a Cine-Kodak viewfinder, is not only a classic of cinematic art but also a sociological treasure. (14 min.)
NY, NY: A Day in New York
This 1957 color film by Francis Thompson turns everyday street life into a surreal kaleidoscope, distorting, fracturing, and multiplying familiar images into a truly original visual experience. (15 min.)
The Existentialist
Everything except the befuddled hero moves backward along the city's streets in Leon Prochnik's 1966 experimental film, which is a playful commentary on conforming and not conforming. (8 min.)
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In the Company of Women
Lower East Side Stories
Liselle Mei's series of short films explores unity and dissonance in an urban neighborhood by looking at the stories of four disparate women. (38 min.)
A Part of Me
Filmmaker Ketty Henri confronts her fear of failure as she turns 18 years old in this profile of important women in her family, including her personal heroine, her mother, who immigrated to the United States from Haiti with the dream of building a better life. (6 min., 49 sec.)
Little Frankenstein
In a playful, fascinating study of flirtation and innuendo, Samuael Topiary pays a visit to her friend Zoey to talk about the time they once shared as roommates. (4 min., 22 sec.)
Pigeon Within
Emily Hubley uses photographs and drawings to tell the story of a woman's symbolic journey home, from dark tunnels of doubt through an encounter with her guardian angel. (4 min.)
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Alternate Realities
Slo-Mo: A Film for the Motionally Challenged
In John Krokidas's clever take on the pressures of the urban rat race, a struggling writer wakes up to discover that his girlfriend has left him and the entire city of New York is moving in fast motion. (24 min., 47 sec.)
Superstore
In Sam Zalutsky's short film, Clea Lewis stars as a suburban mother whose routine trip to Costco quickly becomes anything but ordinary when her daughter disappears. (13 min.)
The Hill
Debra Chow's film is a contemporary, revisionist fable about truths and accusations revolving around the Jack and Jill children's rhyme. (12 min., 4 sec.)
Drink
In Patrick Smith's animated film, a boy discovers a magic potion that allows him to explore the universe within himself. (4 min., 43 sec.)
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Slumming It: Myth and Culture on the Bowery
Slumming It: Myth and Culture on the Bowery
Scott Elliott's documentary traces the rich, 200-year history of the Bowery -- the characters, locations, and stories that, more than a century ago, formed the extraordinary fabric of this influential and infamous boulevard. (55 min.)
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Framing Family
My Brother Nathaniel
Simeon Hutner's candid documentary looks at mental illness through the experiences of his brother, from his first breakdown at age 18 to his continuing efforts to cope with the condition today. (18 min.)
A Thousand Words
Melba Williams' documentary explores the silencing effect the legacy of war has on a family. The children of a Vietnam veteran discover that his words are no match for the photos and moving images he leaves behind. (8 min., 22 sec.)
S.P.I.C.: Coming to New York
Robert Castillo's film recalls his relocation as a young boy in 1977 from the Dominican Republic to New York to live with his parents permanently. (4 min.)
Closer to Heaven
In Diane Bonder's film about loss and longing and mercurial weather, urban ghosts collide, abandoned umbrellas tumble down the streets, and her father calls again and again to say good-bye. (15 min.)
Highway 403, Mile 39
Memory competes with fear in Mitch McCabe's haunting film exploring a mother's struggle to piece together disparate recollections of the lost moment before a tragic car accident. (8 min.)
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Portrait of the Artist
Crutchmaster
Nicolas Jenkins profiles "Crutchmaster" Bill Shannon, who has developed versions of skateboarding and hip-hop that incorporate his crutches and is renowned in the underground club scene for his unique and vibrant dance technique. (9 min.)
POPaganda: The Art & Subversion of Ron English
Pedro Carvajal profiles the artist and activist who dares to hijack corporate advertising by using familiar words and images to create confrontational art with a message. (8 min., 25 sec.)
Andres Serrano -- America
Bill Page focuses on the "America" exhibit by Andres Serrano, one of the leading photographers of the 21st century, whose vivid portraits of people from many backgrounds and walks of life offer a fascinating post-9/11 view of the nation. (12 min.)
Confession: A Film About Ariel Schrag
Sharon Barnes looks at the underground world of lesbian teen culture through the autobiographical work of the comic book artist Ariel Schrag. (23 min.)
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The Federation of Black Cowboys
The Federation of Black Cowboys
Eric Martz's documentary reveals how the positive values of the old West are flourishing on the troubled streets of East New York, Brooklyn, via a group of modern-day wranglers who convene daily at the Cedar Lane Stables, where respect for life is taught through horsemanship. (57 min.)
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