During my eight-year stay in New York City, I was struck by the contrast with my home country of Austria, where decent welfare benefits are the norm. The rising cost of living and increase in poverty were devastating to witness. Among my friends, it became commonplace to secretly live in storage units, buy generic prescription drugs on the black market, or even struggle to afford a dental appointment. Alongside my collaborators Shannon Baker and Audrey Henningham, we attempted to capture the mood of social exclusion and poverty in the city through our film.