In the wake of Zohran Mamdani’s victory in New York, we turn our gaze to the city that never stops reinventing itself: a city where activism, art, and everyday life meet in the most unexpected ways.
This collection of films traces the pulse of New York across decades, boroughs, and identities. From the restless subway portraits of 21 x New York to the intimate Chinatown interiors of Your Day Is My Night, from Jonas Mekas’s Walden — the city as diary and dream — to The Hottest August, Brett Story’s portrait of New Yorkers confronting climate anxiety and political uncertainty.
But New York is not just a backdrop, it’s a state of mind, a stage for struggle, and a home for those who insist on imagining alternatives. In Jack’s Ride and Charm Circle, personal and family stories reflect the broader cycles of migration, aspiration, and belonging. Meanwhile, A Campaign of Their Own captures the passion and heartbreak of grassroots politics, and One Ticket Please shows the everyday audacity of life lived on one’s own terms.
Together, these films remind us that New York’s identity has always been collective, and that New York is a city of immigrants: built by immigrants, powered by immigrants and, as of now, led by an immigrant.
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