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The Red Hook Star-Revue featured full-time film student David Carozza in "An anxious intermission for cinema workers"
The Red Hook Star-Revue featured full-time film student David Carozza in "An anxious intermission for cinema workers"
On March 12, Film Forum – an independent cinema on Houston Street in Manhattan – announced that it would limit capacity in its auditoriums to 50 percent in compliance with Governor Cuomo’s ban on large gatherings. But by March 14, management had decided to pause operations completely. Three days later, a mandate from Mayor de Blasio forced New York City’s remaining theaters to close.
Before the closure, fear had already begun to thin the crowds during what had begun as a busy month at Film Forum. “We were playing a lot of popular things, but as soon as this coronavirus thing started happening, it was a lot more dead,” remembered David Carozza, a full-time film student at Pace University and part-time worker. “It was kind of eerie. In the area in general, there were a lot less people, and Film Forum itself is kind of unique to having a large customer base of older people, the exact age range of vulnerable groups that are affected by coronavirus the most.”
Carozza moved from Connecticut to New York for college in 2016. “I come from a lower-middle-class family, and as soon as I got my own apartment, it was my own responsibility to pay the rent and pay bills,” he said.
Before the furlough, Film Forum’s paychecks had covered those expenses. “The financial situation is definitely worrying, as I think it would be for most people,” Carozza admitted.
