Spike Lee Releases Short Film About NYC During COVID-19

Is Spike Lee America’s go-to filmmaker in times of crisis? To choose but one example, his 2002 film 25th Hour included scenes of a post-September 11th New York City, to a moving effect. And now, Lee has returned with a short film posted on Instagram which serves as a tribute to the current crisis facing the city.

As Chris Murphy reports at Vulture, Lee’s short film NEW YORK NEW YORK appeared on Thursday night on Instagram.

https://www.instagram.com/tv/B_6DwoVnz0u/

As a song familiar to many New Yorkers plays, the camera reveals many iconic New York City landmarks utterly devoid of people, quietly establishing a haunting portrait of the city. Lee dubs the film “A Love Letter To It’s People,” and that becomes apparent at the end, when the focus turns to a number of first responders at work.

On the post, Lee also provides some information on how the project was made:

Plain And Simple. Special Love Shout To Ms. TINA SINATRA,SONY/ATV,KERWIN DEVONISH (Camera),ADAM GOODE (Editor),TIM STACKER And KODAK For The Super 8 Film And Cameras.

Lee has also directed two acclaimed documentaries about post-Katrina New Orleans, When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts and If God is Willing and da Creek Don’t Rise. If and when there comes a time for a longer documentary about New York City’s — and the nation’s — response to COVID-19, one can only imagine the film that might result if Lee opts to do something feature-length on the subject.

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Tobias Carroll

Tobias Carroll lives and writes in New York City, and has been covering a wide variety of subjects — including (but not limited to) books, soccer and drinks — for many years. His writing has been published by the likes of the Los Angeles Times, Pitchfork, Literary Hub, Vulture, Punch, the New York Times and Men’s Journal. At InsideHook, he has…