Plan of the City is an animated film, conceived and directed by Joshua Frankel, about the architecture of New York City blasting off into outer space and resettling on Mars. The score to the film is my piece, Change, performed by NOW Ensemble, who also appear in the film. The film’s visuals are an animated collage combining live action footage, animated elements, illustrations and treated photographs, including photos taken by the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity made available to the public domain by the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

The film has been presented with the music performed live with NOW Ensemble, timed to the film, at the Library Of Congress’ On LOCation performing arts series, at the Crossing Brooklyn Ferry festival at BAM, at Williams College, and at Le Poisson Rouge in New York City. It was recently performed in multiple locations within England by Psappha Ensemble, and it exists as its own stand-alone entity, utilizing NOW Ensemble’s studio recording of Change (out on New Amsterdam Records).

Plan of the City has been made possible by a generous grant from the New York State Council on the Arts and is the winner of the Arch Film Lund award.