Independent Lens

The Hottest August

Season 21  Episode 14

THE HOTTEST AUGUST presents an up-close and personal look at New Yorkers’ growing concerns over a variety of societal changes, from rising rents to marching white nationalists, during one sweltering month in 2017. Raising the specter of our changing climate without ever mentioning it directly, the film is a different kind of climate change documentary — one that focuses on the very human experience of yearning for security in an increasingly uncertain world.

Weaving together interviews with individuals all over New York filmed over the course of the month of August 2017, award-winning filmmaker Brett Story holds up a mirror to a society contemplating its future survival.


Read a Q&A with Brett Story: Filmmaker Asks New Yorkers, What Does the Future Look Like?