L Train Shutdown Inspires New Documentary
© Emmett Adler, L Train Doc
By Darcey Pittman
Swarms of New Yorkers commute between Brooklyn and Manhattan on the L Train every day. Packed tight with passengers, the train serves both boroughs through its tunnel under the East River. The underwater tunnel was severely damaged during Hurricane Sandy and is in need of repairs. Already closed on weeknights and weekends, the L Train is fully shutting down in April for a 15-month maintenance period.
Emmett Adler, a freelance video editor, was living off the L Train when the shutdown was first announced, so he immediately understood the implications of this massive transit closure. Since 2016, Adler has been conducting sit-down interviews and verité scenes for his project, L Train Doc.
“We want to convey that this is a big deal,” Adler said. “That this is going to have these myriad effects on business, real estate, and it is a a chip in the ‘governor-versus-mayor’ ongoing battle.”
Adler is using his documentary as a launchpad to examine infrastructure and climate change issues in America more broadly. Because the shutdown is caused in part by Hurricane Sandy, Adler sees that we must “think about natural disasters and how we need to retrofit our infrastructure in our cities against climate change.”
© Emmett Adler, L Train Doc
The documentary is set to release in Fall of 2019, when the shutdown is ongoing and people are still invested in the issue. Adler hopes to air on a mainstream network like Netflix or HBO so the film is accessible to New Yorkers and Americans alike.
“I really hope that New Yorkers will be interested, but I also hope that it will be accessible to a broader audience where they can understand it even if they haven't ever been to New York and don't really know that much about the subway,” Adler said. “This is going to be for them a little bit of a snapshot of New York City life, and hopefully just a relatable situation, because everywhere you go people are dealing with a problematic infrastructure.”
Adler is working with Vice journalist John Surico on this documentary because of Surico’s work covering the L Train every week. Adler has interviewed Surico for the film and also shown him in action as a reporter in the field. Surico appreciates collaborating on the project with Adler, helping determine the film’s direction.
“He's got something there because it's such a visual story and it's this kind of massive transit crisis,” Surico said. “Making that appealing to the entire country as a documentary is what his mission is, but I think it can be done for sure.”
Surico has found Adler’s work to be a distinct way of creating a three-year time capsule of the shutdown. Stay tuned for the documentary’s release next fall to see for yourself.
© Emmett Adler, L Train Doc
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