
As wonderful as New York can be in the spring, we all know there is a darker side. Our TFF 2013 Filmmakers share with us their least enjoyable moments in the city that never sleeps.
We think we all can agree that New York City is the greatest city in the world, but this cultural capital does have its irksome moments. We encouraged several of this year's Festival filmmakers to share their least favorite things about NYC, which include outrageous living expenses, pesky tourists and animal urine.
"Subway delays, humid summers, and finding a cab when it's raining." Matthew Bonifacio, Fortune House
"My rent." Daniel Patrick Carbone, Hide Your Smiling Faces
"Would it kill us to move a ski resort closer to the city? Maybe start making snow up in the hills of Northern Manhattan." Dave Carroll, Bending Steel
"When I last lived here I hated the need to make so much money that creativity becomes stifled." Kat Corio, A Case of You
"When tourists walk four across on the sidewalk." Matt Creed, Lily
"Dog shit, I suppose." Sean Dunne, Oxyana
"Stop and Frisk." Sam Flesichner, Stand Clear of the Closing Doors
"That anything can happen in a day! I feel like when you're here and you're having a good day, you can have the best day possible, but if you're having a bad day, it's probably the worst day you'll ever have. Plus, I hate cab drivers that drive like crazy people." Amy Grantham, Lily
"I hate the TVs in the taxis. I used to like to sit in the taxi and organize my thoughts, and I know I can turn them off, but I really don't like the TVs in the taxis. First couple of years I lived here you could catch a cab that was bigger than my apartment and I really miss those. " Clark Gregg, Trust Me
"The rent. And I'm talking New York City, not the boroughs or anything." Chiemi Karasawa, Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me
"NYC kicks you in the face if you slow down. I love that, too. But sometimes I'm tired." Michael Beach Nichols, Flex is Kings
"Some days it feels like the city is boiling with rage. It's like it's contagious. And it makes me into a person I don't want to be." Jessica Oreck, Aatsinki: The Story of Arctic Cowboys
"I wish I could revisit the NYC of the 80's, mainly because I only got a childhood glimpse of the weirdness that existed here back then. Although I don't hate that things have been cleaned up since then, I do think the make over has contributed to the fact that it's getting harder and harder for an artist to move here and make a living." Ryan Scafuro, Bending Steel
"Those moments where you're carrying a ton of bags and it's like raining, or there are definitely those days when you are sort of smacked in the face by how very inconvenient the city can be." Deidre Schoo, Flex is Kings
"I lived in NYC in the eighties, and there was a lot of poverty. You had to cover people to walk down the street, and it felt like the city wasn't very sympathetic. But after 9/11, people were a lot more compassionate." Stephen Silha, Big Joy: The Adventures of James Broughton
"I'd say probably the number of places that smell like urine." Eric Slade, Big Joy: The Adventures of James Broughton
"The fact that I don't live there." Darren Stein, G.B.F.
"I hate in the summertime when you walk over those subway grates and it smells like warm piss blowing up on your face. I didn't know where that smell came from until I went with a buddy of mine to New York a couple of weeks ago. He was walking his dog, and he had taught his dog to piss on those bits. I was like Dude what are you doing, that's the warm pee smell! It's you, it's your fault! Josh Waller, Raze
"I hate most about New York City that nature is a distant memory. That's why you see the landscapes in my movies because I grew up in all kinds of wild nature. I really have that strongly in my background so I often feel like I just want more than the one tree sticking out of the cement sidewalk. But that's changing like the highline, it's evolving, it's been evolving." Enid Zentelis, Bottled Up
"That it's not closer to LA." Craig Zisk, The English Teacher
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
08/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/09/2026
Mo-Sys, the world-leading developer of virtual production, camera robotics and image tracking technology, has completed a business restructuring, which has incl...
08/09/2026
New York, September 8, 2026 The TSAmediaHUB audiovisual contribution and distribution infrastructure developed by Telef nica's Audiovisual Services area re...
08/09/2026
Expanded Riyadh operation brings Asharq and Thmanyah services together on a resilient on-premises Pebble platform.
Pebble, the leading automation, content mana...
08/09/2026
Techex, a pioneering leader in live video workflows, will showcase its broadest software feature set to date at IBC 2026 (Stand 2.B45), extending its lead in so...
08/09/2026
Visitors to Grass Valley's booth at IBC2026 will be introduced to new Framelight X capabilities that connect content acquisition, management, editing and pu...
08/09/2026
BCNEXXT will showcase the latest evolution of Vipe at IBC2026 (Stand 2.B09), introducing a series of innovations designed to deliver higher-quality audience exp...
08/09/2026
Bitmovin, a provider of video streaming solutions, has partnered with Ad Insertion Platform (AIP), a leading innovator in advanced ad insertion technologies, to...
08/09/2026
Brainstorm, a leading manufacturer of real-time graphics and augmented and virtual production, is announcing a major package of enhancements to its Suite 7 soft...
08/09/2026
Big Blue Marble is supporting TDF, French infrastructure and network operator, broadcasting Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) and radio services, as a techno...
08/09/2026
Agents work inside a single production environment, from incoming wire copy to a live studio show...
08/09/2026
Building on their strategic partnership, Ceeblue and Layercake make the unthinkable possible: scalable sub-second streaming over standard DRM, SSAI, and CDN wor...
08/09/2026
Brainstorm, a leading manufacturer of real-time graphics, augmented and virtual production, is completing the environment for fast-paced broadcast production wi...
08/09/2026
A SaaS portfolio built to work together, helping operators grow audiences, monetise smarter and run leaner, on their own terms
At IBC 2026 (stand 1.B49) Synam...
08/09/2026
Accedo, global provider of video streaming software and services, has been selected by PlayOn Sports, a national leader in high school sports technology, to exp...
08/09/2026
LiveU, the leader in live IP-video solutions, is enabling The Associated Press to take global newsgathering to the next stage with intelligent connectivity and ...
08/09/2026
Mediagenix, a global leader in smart content solutions to profitably connect the right content to the right audience, today announced the latest evolution of it...
08/09/2026
Compact, power-efficient X Platform performance brings broadcast-grade reliability and ultra-low latency to space-constrained remote production (REMI) workflows...
08/09/2026
Zixi, the leader in live video delivery and workflow orchestration, and Kiloview, a leading provider of professional IP video encoding and decoding solutions, t...
08/09/2026
Collaboration gives content owners scalable CDN capacity and broadcasters enhanced flexibility, including for C-band transition planning
Quortex today announce...
08/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/09/2026
By Ramona Flume and Lucy Spicer
There's a particular kind of magic that hap...
07/09/2026
Two new full-range, flat-response cabinets introduced
HeadRush have recently introduced a pair of new full-range, flat-response cabinets designed for player...
07/09/2026
Answering questions about AI in game audio
GameSoundCon, the largest professional conference for video game music and sound design, have announced that they...
07/09/2026
New directional headset mic on show at IBC
Just ahead of this week's IBC show, DPA have announced the launch of a new directional headset that's bee...
07/09/2026
We are not building systems to replace human decision-making; we are building systems that execute our decisions at machine speed. The media companies that win ...
07/09/2026
Blackmagic Design Announces New Lower Price for Blackmagic PYXIS 6K and Blackmag...
07/09/2026
GB Labs to Unveil Core.ONE at IBC2026, an Intelligent Storage Platform for Media...
07/09/2026
Monday 7 September 2026
Freddie Meredith joins cast of SNL UK ahead of start of Season 2
Freddie Meredith Images
ZIP (3MB)
Saturday Night Live UK announces ...
07/09/2026
Monday 7 September 2026
Sky and NFTS team up to launch new routes into screen careers
Sky has today announced a new apprenticeship programme, with application...
07/09/2026
Monday 7 September 2026
Sky Sports announces most comprehensive NFL coverage to...
07/09/2026
Dolby, MainConcept, Techex and J nger Audio will showcase the industry's first demonstration of Serial Audio Definition Model (S-ADM) in a cloud-based produ...
07/09/2026
dB Broadcast will showcase APIS Hive, its software platform for designing, deploying and managing modern broadcast infrastructures, at IBC 2026.
Developed from...
07/09/2026
552,000 streams on RT Player
The historic fight, which saw Katie Taylor become...
06/09/2026
Recreates Rolands TB-303 & MC-202
BS-203 MacroAcidizer is the first virtual instrument from Born Second, and it offers a recreation of two Roland classics -...
06/09/2026
London, UK September 2026 PlayBox Technology is inviting broadcasters, OTT and FAST operators, content owners and media organisations worldwide to become De...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
05/09/2026
MK2 & Bass system control app improved
HEDD Audio have just launched a new and improved version of the control software that pairs with their MK2 and Bass m...
05/09/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
05/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
05/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
05/09/2026
InSync Technology, the leading provider of premium video conversion solutions, will showcase a new generation of products at IBC 2026, designed to help broadcas...
05/09/2026
GlobalM successfully supported quattro media GmbH and World Rowing, the world governing body of the Olympic sport of Rowing, with the international distribution...
05/09/2026
LA JOLLA, CA-In recognition of his exceptional work to understand the chemistry of carbohydrates and the role they play in health and disease, Scripps Family Ch...
04/09/2026
Media organisations interested in the Media Innovation Europe 3.0 Business Innovation Synergizer (BIS) can now consult a new FAQ document providing additional a...
04/09/2026
Eluvio will demonstrate updates to its Content Fabric platform at IBC2026 (Hall 8, Stand 8.MS5, and Future Tech Zone, Hall 14, Stand 14.A58, September 11-14). C...
04/09/2026
LiveU has joined the IBC Accelerator's Smart Stories consortium, a multi-vendor initiative developing an open standard for Story Context interoperability in...
04/09/2026
Telos Alliance will demonstrate new audio observability capabilities at IBC2026 (Stand 8.D37, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-14), covering monitoring of audio heal...