FILMMAKERS ON HOLD

New York City, one of the most filmed cities in the world, is an important production location and international hub for filmmakers. „The show must go on, no matter what“ is the motto of the creative, high-performance independent film scene rooted in the city. That New York, and with it film production, could ever come to a standstill seemed unthinkable. But in April 2020, New York became a hotspot for the COVID-19 pandemic. With case numbers rising and the lockdown in place, the show was suddenly over – indefinitely. FILMMAKERS ON HOLD traces the biggest crisis in the history of the New York film industry from an inside perspective. Shot between March 2020 and March 2022, the film documents the realities of life and work for New Yorkers active in front of or behind the camera. In loosely linked episodes, individual fates are illuminated that make the professional as well as the private consequences of the pandemic and the lockdown tangible. But in the face of adversity, the film scene reinvents itself: networks to deliver food are organized, rehearsals are conducted via video call, film festivals stream live. The show goes on, the gridlock is over. But after the trauma of the pandemic, can everything really be the same again?

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