Lost Book Found (1996)

The result of over five years of Super8 and 16mm filming on New York City streets Lost Book Found melds documentary and narrative into a complex meditation on city life The piece revolves around a mysterious notebook filled with obsessive listings of places objects and incidents These listings serve as the key to a hidden city a city of unconsidered geographies and layered artifactsthe relics of lowlevel capitalism and the debris of countless forgotten narratives The project stems from the filmmakers first job in New Yorkworking as a pushcart vendor on Canal Street As usual Cohen shot in hundreds of locations using unobtrusive equipment and generally without any crew Influenced by the work of Walter Benjamin