Criterion ChannelA recently discovered conversation between photographer Peter Hujar and his friend Linda Rosenkrantz in 1974 reveals a glimpse into New York City’s downtown art scene and the personal struggles and epiphanies that define an artist’s life.
peter-hujars-day-header. 4. By Gregory Nussen. Published Nov 6, 2025.Conversation drifts from Hujar's extensive dealings with beat poet Allen Ginsburg (who was vehemently antagonistic to the idea of being shot in portrait) to the ordering of Chinese food. Sachs tells us this is a film, and so it is, the appearance and the audio of a seemingly normal day abstracted by the apparatus. In this way, the film reveals the extraordinary within the ordinary.
Ben Whishaw in Peter Hujar’s Day. Photograph: © One Two Films.Perhaps it is inevitably going to be of limited interest, and as intelligent as the two performances are, neither Whishaw nor Hall is tested very much. But it is an intriguing experiment in recovering the moment-by-moment reality of a lost time and place. Peter Hujar’s Day screened at the Berlin film festival and is in UK and Irish cinemas from 2 January.
