Gustavo Sánchez makes his documentary feature directorial debut with I Hate New York, an engrossing film that follows four of the most iconic artists and activists of the city’s legendary and bygone underground scene: Amanda Lepore, Chloe Dzubilo, Sophia Lamar, and T De Long. A favorite at numerous international film festivals, including San Sebastian, Raindance, Thessaloniki, and NewFest: New York’s LGBTQ Film Festival, I Hate New York premieres Tuesday, September 1st on digital platforms.

For over a decade, between 2007 and 2017, director Sánchez followed the artists and the activists around Manhattan’s rapidly changing East Village, capturing hundreds of hours of footage. He set his eye on the survivors of the underground scene that emerged in the late eighties and began to fade after 9/11.

I Hate New York is the result of intimate conversations between the filmmaker and his triptych of captivating and driven female artists and activists. In taxis, Tompkins Square Park, and impossibly small apartments, Dzubilo, Lamar, Lepore, and De Long, offer their unfiltered thoughts on everything from success and rivalry to gentrification and the utter pointlessness of nostalgia. These interviews are supplemented by commentary from the women’s fellow Village characters and creatives, including Bibbe Hansen, iO Tillett Wright, Katrina del Mar, and Linda Simpson.

With unprecedented access to these larger-than-life figures, executive produced by J.A. Bayona (A Monster Calls), and featuring a potent soundtrack with the music of Arca, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Alva Noto, and Sharon Needles, among others, Sánchez provides an engrossing cinematic portrait of four revolutionary women through their extraordinary stories and lives that have influenced younger generations of transgender artists and activists.

The Subjects

Amanda Lepore. For the first time in history, the viewer is given access to the most intimate and unknown side of the celebrated model, actress, muse to David LaChapelle and icon of the New York night. The famous transgender diva of the New York scene is an authentic sculpture in movement.

Chloe Dzubilo. I Hate New York reveals the previously untold story of the leader of legendary punk group Transisters and one of the most important activists in the defense of the trans community’s civil rights during the most critical years of the AIDS epidemic.

Sophia Lamar. Actress, singer, model and true underground legend of the New York artistic avant-garde, she emigrated from Cuba during the explosion of punk in NYC and was one of the most famous of the Club Kids, exploring fashion, performance and video art.

T De Long. Rapper, DJ and activist for social justice during the era of downtown Manhattan’s widespread gentrification. This documentary gathers the most transcendental moments of her adventurous and hazardous life.

Director Gustavo Sánchez (Úbeda, Spain 1978) is a journalist and filmmaker who lives in Barcelona. I Hate New York (2018), is his directorial debut, written, directed and produced over the course of a decade, with executive production by the director J.A. Bayona. At an early age, Sánchez began journalism career at Radio Úbeda (Cadena Ser), hosting his own radio program, becoming the youngest radio host in Spain. He studied Languages and Literature at the University of Granada and at the University of Aberdeen and holds a degree in Audiovisual Communication from the University of Salamanca. In addition to his journalistic and film work, he is a member of the team of Sónar, Barcelona’s arts, design, and electronic and advanced music festival.