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Peter Hujar’s Day

Panorama 2025
© One Two Films
In 1974, writer Linda Rosenkrantz and photographer Peter Hujar tape-recorded a conversation in her New York apartment. The topic of the afternoon was 24 hours in the life of the famously uncompromising Hujar who was regarded as one of the most important characters in downtown New York’s cultural scene of the 1970s and 1980s. In his new film, which is set entirely in Linda’s Manhattan apartment, Ira Sachs freely and imaginatively recreates that long-ago afternoon and the discursive exchange between two singular individuals. The photographer vividly describes his interactions with leading cultural figures of the day, including Allen Ginsberg and Susan Sontag, as well as the challenges of living on limited financial resources in 1970s New York. Peter Hujar’s Day is a Bloomsday-esque rumination on both an artist’s life and time itself.
by Ira Sachs (Director, Screenplay)
with Ben Whishaw, Rebecca Hall USA / Germany 2025 English 75' Colour International premiere

With

  • Ben Whishaw (Peter Hujar)
  • Rebecca Hall (Linda Rosenkrantz)

Crew

Director Ira Sachs
Screenplay Ira Sachs
Cinematography Alex Ashe
Editing Affonso Gonçalves
Production Design Stephen Phelps
Producers Jordan Drake, Jonah Disend
Co-Producer Fred Burle

Produced by

Jordan Drake Productions

One Two Films

World Sales

Films Boutique

Photos

Ira Sachs

Born in Memphis, Tennessee, USA in 1965. Sachs’ work has already featured in the Panorama in 2005 with Forty Shades of Blue, in 2010 with Last Address, in 2012 with the Teddy Award-winning Keep the Lights On, in 2014 with Love is Strange, in 2016 with Little Men and, most recently, in 2023 with Passages. Sachs is the founding director of Queer|Art, an arts organisation which supports queer and trans artists in film, performance, literature and visual arts.

Filmography (selection)

1992 Vaudeville 1994 Lady; short film 1997 The Delta 2000 10/26/00; short film 2005 Forty Shades of Blue 2007 Married Life 2010 Last Address; short documentary 2012 Keep the Lights On 2014 Love is Strange 2016 Little Men 2019 Frankie 2023 Passages 2025 Peter Hujar’s Day

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2025