Reporting on New York City: NYC Documentaries

Streaming. Filmmaker Ken Burns tells the story of the five Black and Latino teenagers from Harlem who were wrongly convicted of raping a white woman in New York City's Central Park in 1989, for the first time from the perspective of the teenagers whose lives were upended by this miscarriage of justice.

Streaming. Filmmaker Marc Levin explores the effects of hyper-gentrification and rising economic disparity in the neighborhood of West Chelsea through the stories of young people from both sides of 10th Ave. and 26th St.

DVD only. A portrait of New York City double decker bus tour guide Timothy "Speed" Levitch.

Streaming. Dark Days explores the surprisingly domestic subterranean world of a homeless community living in a train tunnel beneath New York City. Through stories heartbreaking and hilarious, tunnel dwellers reveal their reasons for taking refuge and their struggle to survive underground.

DVD only. Frederick Wiseman's 40th documentary focuses on the racially and ethnically diverse neighborhood of Jackson Heights, Queens, New York—the daily life of the people in this community and the conflict between maintaining ties to traditions and adapting to American ways and values.

Streaming. An intimate and revealing portrait of this intensely private man, his legacy as a political titan, and the city he helped transform.

Streaming. Diego Echeverría's documentary skillfully represents the challenges of its time in Los Sures, a Puerto Rican barrio in the southside of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Five different people living in this Brooklyn neighborhood are the focus of five episodes.

Streaming. Eleven-year-old New York City public school kids journey into the world of ballroom dancing and reveal pieces of themselves and their world along the way. Told from their candid, sometimes hilarious perspectives, these kids are transformed, from reluctant participants to determined competitors.

Streaming. On August 7th, 1974, a young Frenchman named Philippe Petit stepped out on a wire illegally rigged between the New York World Trade Center's Twin Towers. This extraordinary documentary incorporates Petit's personal footage to show how he achieved the artistic crime of the century.

DVD only. An eight-part, 17½ hour documentary film directed by Ric Burns on the history of New York City, from its beginnings in 1609 as a Dutch trading post to rise and fall of the World Trade Center.

Streaming. On the Bowery chronicles three days in the drinking life of Ray Salyer, a part-time railroad worker adrift on New York's skid row, the Bowery. On the Bowery is simultaneously an document of a bygone era and a vivid and devastating portrait of addiction.

Streaming. A vibrant snapshot of the 1980s through the eyes of New York City's African American and Latinx Harlem drag-ball scene. Made over seven years, Paris Is Burning offers an intimate portrait of rival fashion "houses," from fierce contests for trophies to house mothers offering sustenance in a world rampant with homophobia, transphobia, racism, AIDS, and poverty.

Streaming. A 45-minute impressionistic portrait of and tribute to New York, directed by Manfred Kirchheimer. Shot on lush 16mm color reversal stock, the film weaves together vivid images of graffiti-covered elevated subway trains crisscrossing 1970s New York to a commentary-free soundtrack that combines ambient city noise with jazz and gospel by Charles Mingus and Aretha Franklin.

Streaming. Style Wars is a legendary documentary of early hip-hop culture developing in New York City in the late 1970s and early '80s, focusing specifically on graffiti art and breakdancing.

Streaming. Part music film, part historical record of an epic event that celebrated Black history, culture, and fashion: The Harlem Cultural Festival in Mount Morris Park (now Marcus Garvey Park) over six weeks in 1969. Features never-before-seen concert performances by Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Sly and the Family Stone, B.B. King, and more.

Streaming. An examination of disgraced New York Congressman Anthony Weiner's disastrous 2013 mayoral campaign.

Streaming. A chronicle of the story behind one of America's most infamous murder cases: the death of Catherine "Kitty" Genovese, whose name became a symbol of urban apathy after she was stabbed to death on a New York City street.