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Video: This 14-Minute Doc Explores Disappearing Payphones In NYC
By
Jen Carlson
Published Dec 1, 2015
Modified Dec 1, 2015
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Dec 1, 2015
Modified Dec 1, 2015
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(Screenshot from Hang Up)
There's somewhere between 0 and 4 real phone booths left in New York City—you know, the kind that Superman would use, the kind with a door. There are more than a handful of those other ones left, but they're disappearing too. If you Google "phone booth NYC" you will get more results regarding the "speakeasy" type bar, PDT, than an actual working phone booth on the sidewalk. Most of those would be in the payphone graveyard by now, but even the payphone graveyard is no longer. Filmmaker Hugo Massa decided to document the remaining phones before they all vanish, too.
(Screenshot from Hang Up)
The 14-minute long doc, called Hang Up, was shot in 2014, and you can now view it online (below). The protagonists you'll meet are John and Mark—"each of them cares for these vanishing urban objects in an unexpected manner: John is the owner of one of the last remaining independent payphone companies, Mark a disinterested archivist who documents the last days of the payphone era. Their concerns and struggles remind us of a lost age of street communication and invite us to meditate on the effects of ever-changing technologies on our lives."
Here it is:
Tagged
documentary
hang up
hugo massa
payphones
original
Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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