Shot entirely on location, The Naked City exposes a raw and menacing New York, from its darkest alleys to its tallest skyscrapers. Allegedly inspired by Weegee’s photographs of crime scenes and Italian neorealism, blacklisted director Jules Dassin magnificently captured the city’s street life. The film, winner of two Academy Awards for cinematography and editing, depicts a police investigation that follows the murder of a young model in her Upper West Side apartment, and features many memorable chases through the city, including a heart-stopping scene at the top of the Williamsburg Bridge. Special thanks to UCLA Film and Television Archives.

Screening with:

A Child of the Ghetto
D.W. Griffith, USA, 1910, 15m
Silent with live banjo accompaniment
World-renowned banjo player (and Harvard Business School graduate and founder of Compass Records and all around impressive Jewish woman) Alison Brown accompanies this classic from Hollywood legend D.W. Griffith: a documentary-like short tale of a woman’s innocent crime in New York’s bustling Lower East Side and her subsequent escape to the country and romance with a young farmer. Film restoration and new English subtitles by the National Center for Jewish Film.