The First Wave

Four months, New York City, 2020.

An intimate documentary portrait of frontline healthcare workers and patients enduring the harrowing early months of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City.

When Covid-19 hit New York City in 2020, filmmaker Matthew Heineman gained unique access to one of New York’s hardest-hit hospital systems. The resulting film focuses on the doctors, nurses, and patients on the frontlines during the “first wave” from March to June 2020. Their distinct storylines each serve as a microcosm to understand how the city persevered through the worst pandemic in a century