Lost Landscapes of New York with Rick Prelinger

Since 2006, Rick Prelinger has made 37 participatory urban history events that have played to large and vocal audiences in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Oakland, Detroit and at festivals throughout the world. As films play, viewers are invited to comment, to ask questions and to interact with one another. This autumn the revised LOST LANDSCAPES project returns to New York for the first time since its premiere in 2017.

LOST LANDSCAPES OF NEW YORK (2017-26, 83 min., HD video transferred from 35mm, 16mm and 8mm film) mixes home movies shot by New Yorkers, tourists and semi-professional cinematographers with outtakes from feature films and background “process plates” picturing granular details of New York’s cityscape. The combination of intimate moments, neighborhood memories from many New York City communities and expansive perspectives forms a 21st-century city symphony whose soundtrack will be made by the audience. Spanning much of the 20th century (1920-1980), LOST LANDSCAPES recalls buried memories of daily life, work and celebration while asking audiences to reflect on possible futures for New York City. This screening adds newly found material to the original 2017 film.

As always, the audience makes the soundtrack. Please come prepared to raise your voices; identify places, people and events; and ask questions of others in the audience.