1980’s:
The Slow Claw Back Up

1988 - South Jamaica, Queens Drug Wars
A look at how the drug trade and the violence surrounding it were destabilizing South Jamaica, Queens, eroding trust in institutions and exposing a neighborhood caught between fear, neglect, and a shrinking sense of public order. The film shows residents taking their own steps to restore safety and stability, increasingly frustrated with political leaders who offered slogans but little meaningful response.

1981 - The South Bronx
A look at a neighborhood still marked by burned‑out blocks, stalled promises, and the long shadow of federal cuts as residents work to rebuild stability in the middle of deep neglect. The film follows people repairing homes, creating community spaces, and piecing together new routines, showing a South Bronx slowly reshaping itself even as the systems around it continue to fail.

1970’s:
The Decade Of Decline

1977  Blackout - Audio Documentary
Experience the tension of what many call the worst night in the city’s history, told by the people who were on the front lines of the chaos. (A later retrospective, but still incredibly immersive.)

1975  Special Report “NYC Working Class”
Live the daily struggles of New Yorkers trying to survive an era of crushing unemployment, shrinking opportunity and their frustrations with a failed safety net.

1975  Financial Crisis
Step into the year NYC ran out of money — and had to claw its way back from the brink of bankruptcy. A ground‑level view of how fiscal collapse rippled through services, workers, and everyday life.

1974  Fire! Everybody Goes!
Ride along for 24 hours with the crews of one of the busiest fire stations in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn and see how their mission shapes the community around them. The film shows the relentless pace, improvisation, and strain of frontline work during the height of the city’s fire epidemic.

1973  Fort Apache
A gritty Saturday night inside one of the toughest police precincts in the country — the NYPD’s 41st on Simpson Street in the South Bronx. The camera captures the pressure, volatility, and street‑level decision‑making that defined policing in a neighborhood under extreme stress.

1972  The Bronx Is Burning
A hard look at economic despair, social decay, and relentless fires that left whole neighborhoods in ruins. For many residents, this wasn’t a crisis but the daily reality of living in a system stretched past its limits.

1971? NYC Trade Unions  
Follow a hard‑edged union negotiator fighting for New York’s public employees during a period of salary freezes, shrinking budgets, and rising public frustration. It’s a ground‑level look at the tension between workers trying to hold the line and a city demanding more services with fewer resources.

1970  A Bridge Over Troubled Waters
An unfiltered look by David Hoffman at young runaways and homeless New Yorkers, alongside portraits of overcrowded hospitals straining to serve the city. The film reveals the quiet resilience of people trying to maintain stability and dignity in institutions pushed far beyond capacity.

1960’s:
An Era of Changing Tides

1969 Mayoral Elections
A street‑level look at New Yorkers weighing their options in a city strained by failing services, rising frustration, and a sense that daily life is slipping out of control. The footage follows four mayoral campaigns as they move through neighborhoods where voters’ lived reality exposes the gap between political messaging and the conditions on the ground.

1968 Staten Island - The Forgotten Borough
A look at the rapid, uncontrolled development that followed the opening of the Verrazano Bridge, reshaping Staten Island’s neighborhoods and daily life. The film captures residents and local activists pushing back to protect the Island’s Greenbelt as infrastructure and planning struggled to keep pace.

1965  Uptown - Portrait Of The South Bronx
Everyday life in a neighborhood straining under overcrowding, poverty, and early signs of urban decay. The film shows residents holding their routines together even as fear and neglect begin to isolate them from the rest of the city.

1965 Inside The Ghetto
A candid conversation with Manchild in the Promised Land author Claude Brown that cuts through politics and theory to confront the realities of Harlem. Brown challenges official narratives on leadership, riots, poverty programs, and representation, arguing that the streets carry a truth institutions rarely hear.

1965 Northeast Blackout   
News report on the massive power failure that plunged NYC into darkness during rush hour, stranding thousands as the city ground to a halt. What emerges is a night of calm improvisation and shared responsibility, with citizens stepping in to keep order while officials worked to understand the outage

1950’s:
An Era of Prosperity

Port of New York
A mid‑century look at the Port of New York at its peak, capturing the human labor, logistics, and paperwork that kept the nation’s busiest harbor moving.