It’s Nice to be Important, but It’s More Important to be Nice

Sean Vegezzi is a talented young fella who spends his time trespassing through various roped-off sections of New York City, both under- and above-ground. He took a photo of his friend walking along a roof’s edge that we liked so much we made it the cover to our “Teetering on the Brink” issue, and we’re not his only fans. Recently a production company approached him about making three short films as part of a series called “New York City Vignettes,” based on a Glenn O’Brien piece called “I Love New York.”

Sean told us that the project sounded “a bit too trite” to him at first (how many times can you hear about what a great town New York is before bile starts rising in the back of your throat?), but once he found out they were giving him free rein to do whatever he wanted, he accepted their offer and has just finished the first film, titled “It’s Nice to be Important, but It’s more Important to be Nice.”

The film is a rat’s-eye view of the subway platforms and the people who frequent them, including one man who is rubbing what looks like shaving cream all over his head. It’s a completely plotless piece of vicarious voyeurism, but the strung-together images are each very well composed, which isn’t surprising given Sean’s photographic eye.

“I’ve never really aimed my camera at anyone who wasn’t my friend before, nor have I ever shot a film, so this was a very new and exciting thing,” Sean said in an email. “I hope it doesn’t reek of amateurism too bad! Feel free to completely bash it or say some nice things!”

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http://seanvegezzi.com/

HARRY CHEADLE