Why live and work as a film-maker in New York rather than Hollywood? The birthplace of US cinema, New York has played a hugely influential role in its evolution - particularly in the realm of more personal, \'independent\' film-making of figures from Sam Fuller to John Cassavetes. Now Projections 11 seeks to answer Mike Figgis\' Los Angeles issue Projections 10 by interviewing film-makers who base themselves in New York, creating an East coast alternative to Hollywood. Tod Lippy speaks to Spike Lee, Jim Jarmusch, Sidney Lumet, Christine Vachon, David O. Russell, Nora Ephron, Tim Robbins, Frances McDormand, and many others.