One October

Director & Producer: Rachel Shuman; Producer: Garret Savage (56 min)

In New York, we are constantly surrounded by the sound of voices. Countless conversations and perspectives weave together the landscape that we call home.

Filmed in October 2008 on the eve of Obama’s historic election and an unprecedented economic crisis, this lyrical portrait of New York City follows WFMU radio reporter Clay Pigeon as he takes to the streets to talk to fellow New Yorkers about their lives, their dreams, and their relationship with the city. These revealing interviews are woven between vivid scenes of New York’s eccentric byways, which together reveal a city—and a nation—at a crossroads.

The film premiered at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival.

This film will be accompanied by a live score, composed by Paul Brill, and followed by a talk back with Brill, director Rachel Shuman and radio reporter Clay Pigeon.

About the Speakers

Rachel Shuman (director, editor, producer) is a documentary filmmaker and editor who has worked in New York City for twenty years. Her directorial debut, Negotiations. premiered at the 2005 Tribeca Film Festival. She Directed Art, Architecture, and Innovation: Celebrating the Guggenheim Museum, which aired on PBS and is now on view at the museum. Her editing credits include various independent documentaries and nonfiction television, and she is proud to be a board member of the Karen Schmeer Film Editing Fellowship. Originally from Boston, Rachel received a BFA from the California College of the Arts in San Francisco and an MFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York.

Paul Brill (composer) has received three Emmy Award nominations for his film scores and recently won the first-ever Best Music Award from the International Documentary Association. He collaborated with Rock legends U2 on the HBO film Burma Soldier, composing a new string arrangement for an acoustic version of their classic song “Walk On.” His recent work includes the hit documentaries, Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work (IFC), the Emmy Award-winning Page One: Inside the New York Times (Magnolia), the Sundance Festival-winning films Trapped and Love Free or Die, and the Emmy, DuPont, and Peabody Award-winning, six-hour PBS documentary, The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross.

Clay Pigeon is the host of “The Dusty Show with Clay Pigeon” on WFMU, an independent freeform radio station. The show began airing in 2005 and can be heard every Thursday at 6 p.m. EST on WFMU 91.1 in the tristate area and streamed from WFMU.org. Clay was raised in Audubon, Iowa, where he developed a conversational interview style that has informed his work over the years. After broadcasting school, he migrated to Clearwater, Florida, where he DJ’ed at WTAN and 96FEVER and played in the rock band Deloris Telescope. In 1998, Clay created a street interview”“based program for WMNF in Tampa, which he continued to produce after moving to Los Angeles and then to Milwaukee. He relocated to New York in 2007, where he lives with his wife, illustrator Kirsten Ulve.