Yahoo News ‘The Stroll’ Offers First-Look Clip Ahead of World Premiere at Sundance Film Festival (EXCLUSIVE)
HBO Documentary Films has unveiled an official first clip from Kristen Lovell and Zackary Drucker’s “The Stroll” as well as a new poster for the film, which documents the history of New York City’s Meatpacking District.
“The Stroll” will world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on Jan. 23 and debuts later this year on HBO and HBO Max. The film tells the story of an important part of Manhattan through the lens of transgender women of color — a demographic whose livelihood was heavily impacted by the escalation of police harassment and gentrification in the region.
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Having moved to New York City in the 1990s, Lovell describes in the clip how she witnessed many trans women soliciting sexual favors in a portion of the district known as “The Stroll.” Those encounters inspired her to consider how sex work is rooted in the legacy of trans women and made her interested in spreading awareness of the neighborhood’s historic value as its population dwindles.
“When I was approached to be a subject of a documentary, I knew that could be a segue into filmmaking,” Lovell tells viewers in the first-look clip. “But what I discovered is that I didn’t have control over my own story, and so it really motivated me to start my journey as a director. I was determined to make a film about ‘The Stroll.’ I wanted to know the history of how long trans women have been coming into this area, and for how long sex work has been a part of our story.”
“The Stroll” marks Lovell’s first time in the director’s chair, though the transgender activist has previously appeared as a guest star in an episode of the HBO series “Random Acts of Flyness” and co-produced 2019’s “The Garden Left Behind.”
This is also Drucker’s feature directing debut, following the premiere of her HBO limited series “The Lady and the Dale.” She also worked as a producer on the Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning series “Transparent,” and shared an Emmy nomination with the producers of “This Is Me” for outstanding short-format nonfiction program.
The 84-minute documentary was made with a skeleton crew consisting of producer Matt Wolf, co-producer Danielle Varga, editor Mel Mel Sukekawa-Mooring and director of photography Sara Kinney. Executive producers from HBO attached to the project include Nancy Abraham, Lisa Heller and Sara Rodriguez.
“The Stroll” will have its world premiere on Jan. 23 at 5 p.m. in the Prospector Square Theatre. To access a full list of screening times for “The Stroll,” visit the festival website here.
Watch the first-look clip below.
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