In the upcoming HBO short documentary COVID Diaries NYC, five young filmmakers turn the cameras on themselves to chronicle their lives in the New York City area during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The filmmakers who participate in the short project are Aracelie Colón who directs My COVID Breakdown, Camille Dianand with When My Dad Got COVID, Marcial Pilataxi with The Only Way to Live in Manhattan, Shane Fleming with No Escape from New York and Arlet Guallpa with Frontline Family. Rosemary Colón-Martinez provides original animation for COVID Diaries NYC.
“It’s insane how this coronavirus is affecting…everything in our lives,” one of the filmmakers says during the trailer for the short film.
In one scene during the preview, a director records a sanitation department inside her apartment building wearing protective gear and carrying cleaning supplies. “It’s getting very real really fast,” she says. “When someone dies, these guys show up.”
In another scene, one of the filmmakers records her dad going to work every day as a bus driver for New York’s Liberty Lines transit system. “I’m just scared for him,” she says. “I love him. He’s my only dad.”
Her father explains what it is like for him to go on his route and pick up passengers who might be infected with the virus. “This is not a game,” he says in Spanish. “It’s reality. We’re scared.”
COVID Diaries NYC premieres on HBO and HBO Max March 9.