NY84 2016

NY84 follows three inseparable friends living in Manhattan’s then-bohemian Alphabet City, at the dawn of the 1980s. Kate Jones Sam Quartin is an aspiring singer and poet, Anton Simons Chris Schellenger is a photographer, and Keith Wright Davy J. Marr is a painter. They share a cramped apartment, throw themselves into art and nightlife, and embrace a carefree, creative lifestyle — partying, performing, recording, painting, and making memories against the backdrop of New York’s vibrant club scene.

Their party life gradually shifts as the mysterious illness now known as AIDS begins to spread among gay and bisexual men, including Anton and Keith. As the crisis deepens, the friends’ world darkens: the disease takes hold, forcing Kate to confront not only the fragility of her friends’ health but also her own burgeoning music career. Through a mix of intimate scenes, city sounds, and candid conversations, the film captures how a close-knit circle balances ambition with fear, joy with loss, and how a city in flux frames their personal reckonings.

The story unfolds through interviews, recordings, art sessions, and quieter personal moments, painting a portrait of a neighborhood and a friendship under siege by a growing epidemic. NY84 traces a move from youthful abandon to the grim reality of loss, fear, and the dawning awareness of the epidemic’s human toll, inviting viewers to feel the heartbeat of a city in transition and to witness the resilience of those who refuse to let memory fade.