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January 30, 2004 For Katja Esson, New York is full of unexpected, incredible locations for filming. Ms. Esson's latest documentary, Ferry Tales, was shot entirely in the ladies room of the Staten Island Ferry - and was nominated for an Academy Award in 2004, for Best Documentary Short Subject.
Ferry Tales is the story of six women from different racial and economic backgrounds who get ready for the day in the powder room of the Ferry and in the process, get to know each other.
"It has a lot to do with people coming together who wouldn't ordinarily come together," Kamillah Hanks, one of the women featured in the film, said. "That one room makes it so easy for these people to talk and find their common ground as working women, working mothers."
The film made the rounds of festivals around the country before receiving an Academy Award nomination this January. It has been purchased by HBO and will air on Cinemax this fall.
Ms. Esson, a German-born filmmaker, had concentrated on fiction until she moved from Miami to New York in 1994. "Documentaries were never on my mind," Ms. Esson said, but "the City was so fascinating that from the very first day, wherever I looked, I saw people and places I wanted to do films about."
"We used what New York has available to help us develop this story and to shoot," Producer Corrina Sanger said.
Ms. Esson's other work includes a documentary about New York City elevators that was shot in 1999 and shown on the PBS series Reel New York and on the Arte channel in Germany and France. She also made a documentary about September 11 that was shown during the CBS event "Making Sense" in Times Square.
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