shocking short film shows new york city as an underwater abyss after climatic catastrophe

claire & max — the filmmakers who previously turned paris and new york into fake movie sets — have once again looked towards the urban landscape for their latest cinematic production. taking on a more sinister and socially conscious approach, the duo hypothesize: what would new york city look like underwater? 

titled ‘two°C’, the simulation builds on the research of scientist james hansen, who posited that several large megacities are threatened by the rise of sea levels, and that parts of new york city could soon be consumed by water.

turning this warning into a stunning visual reality, claire & max have created a short film that shows empty scenes of new york submerged in water. using photoshop, the duo removed all the people in the street, then added water to the sidewalks and roads in 3ds max.

‘the place of man in our society is one of the main themes of our work, with the theme of emptiness and abandonment, convinced of the anthropic impact on the environment,’ claire & max say. ‘the global warming that we deduce from the rising waters is only one element of all the environmental degradations like the air and water pollution, impoverishment and depletion.’

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