The Hottest August

A complex portrait of a city and its inhabitants, The Hottest August gives
us a window into the collective consciousness of the present. The
film’s point of departure is one city over one month: New York City,
including its outer boroughs, during August 2017. It’s a month heavy
with the tension of a new President,  growing anxiety over everything
from rising rents to marching white nationalists, and unrelenting news
of either wildfires or hurricanes on every coast. The film pivots on the
question of futurity: what does the future look like from where we are
standing? And what if we are not all standing in the same place? The Hottest August
offers a mirror onto a society on the verge of catastrophe, registering
the anxieties, distractions, and survival strategies that preoccupy
ordinary lives.

“The Hottest August confronts the urban, cosmopolitan, festival-going audience that will inevitably comprise its first (and hopefully not last) wave of reception with its own mirror image: a group of people doing their best to look away from what’s on the horizon while simultaneously resisting the urge to turn that gaze too far inward.” – Adam Nayman, CinemaScope

World Premiere at the 2019 True/False Film Festival. Official Selection of CPH:DOX, SXSW Film Festival and, Hot Docs Canadian International Film Festival.