Escape from New York
Cinema has always been fond of escape stories. Whether epic or intimate stories, war or prison film, tragedy or comedy, these tales reflect the injustices, violence and conflicts that tear people apart, as well as their propensity for solidarity and compassion. The inventiveness the characters devote to escaping is reminiscent of that of filmmakers who stage their imprisonment in order to better break it down: an always meticulous game, set against a backdrop of spatial constraints and a race against time.
In 1988, New York's crime rate soared by 400%, forcing the authorities to isolate Manhattan from the rest of the city and turn it into the world's largest prison. In 1997, the plane carrying the President of the United States crashed into Manhattan.
John Carpenter
John Carpenter is an American director, screenwriter, producer, and composer born on January 16, 1948, in Carthage, New York. With a cinematic career spanning nearly forty years, he has directed numerous horror and science fiction films that have gained international renown over time. As an independent filmmaker, he directed his first feature film, Dark Star, in 1974. Two years later, he helmed the action film Assault on Precinct 13 before turning to horror, which quickly became his preferred genre, with Halloween in 1978. The film was a tremendous success, both critically and commercially. From then on, Carpenter's career took off, and productions continued, with Hollywood opening its doors to him. At the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, the French Directors' Guild gave him the Golden Coach Award, lauding him as "a creative genius of raw, fantastic, and spectacular emotions".
