From the Streets to the Screen: Exploring New York’s Cinematic Identities

A talk by Hannes Klug, screenwriter, journalist and author of Schauplatz Film: New York, followed by a conversation between Klug and Barbara Natalie Nagel, assistant professor at Princton’s Department of German.

From independent film to blockbusters, from documentaries to thrillers, from romantic comedies to contemporary TV series, New York has become the most filmed city in the world. But what are the characteristics that give New York such a unique presence on film? What is a “New York Film,” anyway? How does the “real” city translate into the imaginary one? Where do the two intersect and how do they influence each other? Is there such a thing as a specific New York aesthetic, and if so what does it convey, and where can we find it in films so different from each other as, say, King Kong, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Taxi Driver, and Shame?

From Deutsches Haus NYU.