For many of the TFF 2014 filmmakers, NYC is home. For others, the city is barely chartered territory. Either way, the love they have for this city is undeniable. 

"It's the center of the world."

- Justin Weinstein,  An Honest Liar

"The Mets."

- Tyler Measom, An Honest Liar

"I was born and raised in New York City, blocks from Tribeca, so when I'm evaluating my home - a place that naturally changes every year - it's hard to pinpoint what those precise things are, but I need to walk. And I love faces. And I love public spaces. I love museums and movies. Central Park, top floor apartments, Excellent dumpling and Joe's Pizza on Bleecker and 6th. I love my family and my friends. The sensibility of of a city made up of different kinds of people."

- Garrett Bradley, Below Dreams

"Peter Pan Donuts in Greenpoint. Just sit at the counter, get a coffee and a toasted bialy with egg whites and cheese, and watch the old Polish men tell funny aimless stories to the young counter girls. It's the perfect way to wake up each morning."

- Jimmy Goldblum and Adam Weber, Tomorrow We Disappear

"The arts, theater, film, architecture, history, friends, idea of creativity, aspiration, hope, physical beauty."

- Angus MacLachlan, Goodbye to All That

"Growing up in it, in the 80s, before Sex and The City."

- Noah Buschel, Glass Chin

"I love the random, unpredictable moments that slap you in the face and keep you awake, questioning."

- Ryan Piers Williams, X/Y

"The option to be totally alone while totally surrounded by other people."

- Andrew T. Betzer, Young Bodies Heal Quickly

"I've never been to NYC before, so the only NYC I know is from films. So it seems like the greatest movie set in the world to me. Films shot there like Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, After Hours, Bad Lieutenant, Midnight Cowboy have had such a huge impact on me that I feel like I know the city intimately. To an outsider it seems to me like the type of city in which no matter where you point the camera you have an image that says “the movies.” I can't wait to see it for real."

- Ivan Kavanagh, The Canal

"Convenience. Anything you could ever possibly want or need seems to be at your fingertips at all hours of the day and night. There are very few places in the world that feel that way."

- Aron Gaudet and Gita Pullapilly, Beneath the Harvest Sky

"Seeing other films, meeting other filmmakers and people."

- Sabine Lubbe Bakker and Niels van Koevorden, Ne Me Quitte Pas

"If you stopped a subway car, and interviewed everyone on it for their life story, you would have stories that criss-cross the planet, past centuries, and all levels of human experience."

- Sean Gullette, Traitors

"An example of every type of person you could ever dream of meeting lives here, somewhere. If you make yourself available to the vibrancy of the city, nothing human is foreign to you."

- Dan Sickles, Mala Mala

"It’s so cool to walk around and go into an apartment and then leave and like go somewhere else. It’s hard to explain. It’s like a playground in the summer here."

- Antonio Santini, Mala Mala

"Walking. When you walk in Los Angeles, people look at you like you're insane. I've lived in New York for ten years, but I still get lost everytime I go below canal and I still love that feeling of wandering aimlessly."

- Christopher Denham, Preservation

"That there's always a chance that you might be able to see - and then ridicule - Donald Trump."

- Mike Fleiss, The Other One: The Long, Strange Trip of Bob Weir

"The people. Other loves include Strand, charity shops on 17th St., Central and Prospect Parks, the availability of high-quality smoked fish, the museums, and the fact that you can generally buy anything you need at any time of day or night. I recently ordered a bottle of champagne (from California) to be delivered to an address in Manhattan, with one phone call. This sort of thing is much harder to do in most parts of the world."

- Nancy Kates, Regarding Susan Sontag

"What?! How you can answer that? It is the greatest city in the world. If I had to pick three things randomly: drinking in the Bowery Hotel Bar (and staying there if I can ever afford it), eating steak at Raouls, and that moment as you drive in from JFK, crest up... and there it is."

- John Dower, Slaying the Bagder

"The energy and 'anything is possible' spirit."

- Johanna Hamilton, 1971

"I wrote my entire first book (A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints) about it. I've shot 4 of my 5 movies there. Funny how this is the first one not in NY and I'm in my first NY festival! Ha!"

- Dito Montiel, Boulevard

"The depths of Brooklyn."

- Stephen Belber, Match

"I love how many nicknames New York City has. The Big Apple, The City That Never Sleeps, New Yizzy, New Amsterdam, The Capital of the World, The Five Boroughs... that's a lot of nicknames."

- Jordan Rubin, Zombeavers

"I really enjoy the U.S. Open Tennis tournament. It's awesome to see extremely talented players from all across the world come to New York to compete on such a grand stage."

- Nicholas Mross, The Rise and Rise of Bitcoin

"The buzz. Just like my home city of London, it feels like a place of huge creativity and infinite possibility. Unlike London you can get a great salt beef sandwich on every corner."

- Mike Brett, Next Goal Wins

"When you’re there, you feel like you’re in the center of the universe. The city is always alive. Anything you want, you can find in NYC. I also love Winnie's Karaoke Bar and Miss Chumley's."

- Andrew Disney, Intramural

"This is kind of like asking, "What do you love most about movies?" or "What do you love about the 21st century?" It's hard to answer without sounding like a personal ad. This is going to sound a bit soft, but I just like looking at it. My friend's place has a great rooftop view, and I love hanging out up there, looking at the rooftop water towers, the buildings and the streets, and, well, into other people's windows. Documentary filmmaker habit."

- Jessica Yu, Misconception

"I love being able to walk out of my apartment, with no plan at all, and find an entire day. I love just walking around by myself and winding up doing things I never expected to do. I love running into people on the street. I love the food. I love hearing all the New York accents - as loud as they maybe at times - they make me happy."

- Michael Rapaport, When the Garden Was Eden

"I love the feeling that you're inside all of the time even when you're not. I love the subway. I love the smell of laundry wafting through vents while you’re walking. I love street nuts (the kind you buy from vendors, but I guess the kind that wander around too.) I love cheap Indian and Pakistani food. I love the dirty, gross pigeons. I love the Met. I love the Staten Island Ferry. I love coming into the city on the GW Bridge. I love the Union Square holiday market. I love the feeling you get that you’re at the center of the universe."

- Leigh Janiak, Honeymoon

"The people. The food (close second)."

- David Lascher, Sister

"I love that NYC has the ability to overwhelm and amaze you every day, regardless of how long you’ve been here. Being on Broadway and hearing ten languages within a block or going from a Caravaggio to a Romanian film masterwork to an all night bar crawl can only happen in a few places in the world."

- Keith Miller, Five Star

"I haven't been there. I may love Central Park."

- Midi Z., Ice Poison (Bing Du)

"The G train and its iconoclastic refusal to go to Manhattan."

- Jesse Zwick, About Alex

"I'm never bored in New York."

- Lloyd Handwerker, Famous Nathan

"The vibrant filmmaking community. When I daydream about moving to NYC, it's the thought of joining that community that most draws me."

- Kevin Gordon, True Son

"It may sound cliché, but there is nowhere else in the world that has energy like NYC.  The dynamic pace of the city breathes life into those inhabiting it and visiting it, including me.  I’m inspired every time I am here because of it."

- Bert Marcus, Champs

"I love that you can walk down the street and hear 6 different languages, and that people from all countries, races, classes, and creeds come here. People may live in different neighborhoods, but when you get on the train, everyone is together, and I think it's a beautiful thing.  I love riding the train and people watching.  I see thousands of stories unfolding and being told before my eyes every day."

- Josef Kubota Wladyka, Manos Sucias