NY77 The Coolest Year In Hell

Wednesday July 25, 2007 - 12 months ago

Posted by Matt Owens / Filed under Design

David Ahjua is finishing up work on VH1’s RockDoc:

NY77: The Coolest Year In Hell.

NY77 premiers August 11th at 9 PM on VH1. This two-part, two-hour documentary tells the story of one of the most astonishing pop culture years in American history. New York City had fallen in decay and chaos. There were not enough jobs, not enough money, not enough police, not enough schools, and not enough social services. There was a city wide black out with major looting, there was a serial killer on the loose, and the Bronx was burning.

Yet out of the chaos, emerged one of the most creative times any city has ever encountered. Hip Hop was emerging from the South Bronx, punk music was emerging from the lower eastside, and disco was emerging from Queens and midtown Manhattan. Elaborate, finely crafted graffiti art decorated the subway cars. Break-dancers danced in the streets. There was a huge sexual liberation with sex clubs and a burgeoning porn industry. In the beginning of the year, the world was not paying attention, and most of this activity existed in its own underground bubble. Yet by the end of 1977 all of this artistic expression was about to become part of mainstream America and would remain popular for generations to come.

The film will be graphically dizzying and groundbreaking, led by the team that produced the acclaimed documentary The Kid Stays in the Picture. Firehouse Films was created in 2004 by Academy Award nominated filmmaker, Nanette Burstein.

David worked with graphic hot shot Wyeth Hansen to design and animate the more than 60 minutes of graphics in the documentary.

You can read a review of the advance screening of NY77 HERE.