Films

COMING TO PBS SEPTEMBER 21st & 22nd!  

Check local listings at pbs.org or the PBS App

Two exciting new chapters of the award-winning, 17 1/2-hour public television series NEW YORK: A Documentary Film

Shadows of the Past and The Future of Cities explore decades of challenge, growth and change across the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

Shadows of the Past, explores the forces that shaped the city in the second half of the 20th century, as New York plunged into the most threatening period of decline and disorder in its history—only to rise again, thanks to a stunning drop in crime, to regain its place at the vanguard of world cities. The episode concludes in the summer of 2001, with New York, now remarkably safe and secure, unaware that a new threat from beyond its borders would soon threaten to undo all the progress of the previous decade.

The Future of Cities begins just after 9/11 and follows New York’s efforts to recover under the new and untested mayoralty of Michael R. Bloomberg. Through rare archival footage and compelling interviews, the episode traces the aftermath of 9/11, the financial crisis of 2008, Superstorm Sandy in 2012 and the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. Yet defying the doomsayers, the city also rebuilt itself in these years on a dramatic scale—economically, physically, and demographically—thanks to an astonishing influx of newcomers from around the world. The episode ends with the inauguration of Zohran Mamdani as mayor of New York in January of 2026.

Narrated by Tony Award-winning actor Robert Sean Leonard, and featuring an original score by Emmy Award-winning composer Brian Keane, Shadows of the Past and The Future of Cities are presented in high-definition 4K video and sound, and feature a combination of original cinematography, archival footage, still photography and interviews with leaders in government, academia and journalism. Featured interviewees include four former New York City mayors David Dinkins, Michael R. Bloomberg, Bill de Blasio and Eric Adams; The New Yorker’s Adam Gopnik; Columbia University Professor Kenneth Jackson; The New York Times’ Wesley Morris, Michael Kimmelman and Dodai Stewart; New York magazine’s Justin Davidson; Fordham University Professor Christina Greer; architect and urbanist Vishaan Chakrabarti; PBS journalist Ray Suarez; New York University Professor Suketu Mehta; and The New York Times columnist and a co-anchor of CNBC’s Squawk Box Andrew Ross Sorkin.