NYC Street Stills, 1940s

This 1940s 16mm film, transferred and slowed by Charlie Churchman, features single-frame stills of people walking New York City streets. Captured in black-and-white or faded color, it freezes fedora-topped men, women in swing coats, and kids dodging traffic—likely on Fifth Avenue or Times Square. The stop-motion effect turns fleeting strides into a haunting gallery of pre-WWII urban life, blending motion and stillness in a raw, archival glimpse of the city’s pulse.