ClASSIC TALE NEW INTERPRETATION
NYFERATU
NYsferatu | Symphony of a Century combines film, music, and community engagement to create a powerful and poignant statement about overcoming 'the fear of the unknown' in today’s world. Taking the first steps in creating this timely work of art, Andrea Mastrovito and a team of artists, hand animated Friedrich W. Murnau’s seminal 1922 film Nosferatu, itself an adaptation of Bram Stoker’s famous story, Dracula.
Using the technique of rotoscoping, each character, gesture, and expression has been redrawn in the original film’s classic style while the background of contemporary New York City brings the film to the current moment. With key community partners, More Art and Mastrovito arranged hands-on workshops where English as Second Language Learners discussed the original film and its implications. The workshops culminated with participants rewriting the silent film’s title cards—in many languages to reflect their respective experience of overcoming obstacles of xenophobia, unjust economics, gentrification, war, and racism to make their home in a new city. In so doing the participants changed the very meaning of the film as well as its ending.
A film by Andrea Mastrovito
Soundtrack Composer: Simone Giulian1
Produced by More Art
