Metropolis
From New York City’s swampy, damp, and dingy “other worlds” where mosquitoes thrive to crowded streets and urban canyons, the film follows a multi-ethnic team’s quest to keep the people of the metropolis safe from the deadly viruses these tiny insects carry. Here, the “heroes” are a mild-mannered 66-year-old immigrant from Pakistan, a gutsy woman from Malaysia, and a bright, ambitious man of Bangladeshi origin.
Metropolis is a journey into a city hidden within one of the world’s most recognizable megacities. Following a team of scientists and field workers in pursuit of one of its smallest inhabitants, the mosquito, the film reveals an unseen New York: a vast city, a tiny insect and the humans in between.
In the summer of 1999, the mosquito-borne West Nile Virus arrived in New York City. It was the first documented outbreak in North America. Since then, medical entomologist Dr. Waheed Bajwa and his team at the city’s Department of Health have worked tirelessly to keep its residents safe from an evolving threat that is being intensified by climate change.
Metropolis follows this intrepid group as they study, track, and combat mosquitoes across the five boroughs. An immersive visual and auditory experience, the film is a scientific pursuit, a race against time, and a celebration of the ordinary people working quietly behind the scenes to keep a metropolis safe.