The Hottest August

A film about climate change, disguised as a portrait of collective anxiety, The Hottest August offers a window into the collective consciousness of the present. Future generations will ask of us the question: what were we doing while the planet was burning? The Hottest August will offer a window into the collective consciousness of the present. The film’s point of departure is one city and one month: New York City, including its outer boroughs, over the course of August 2017, a month heavy with the tension of a new President and administration, growing anxiety over everything from rising rents to marching white nationalists, wildfires on one coast and hurricanes on the other. Shot every day over the one month, the film pivots on the question – and challenge - 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 an evocative and empathetic mirror onto a society on the verge of catastrophe, registering the anxieties, distractions, and survival strategies that preoccupy ordinary lives.