What makes a day meaningful? And when does something that seems mundane at first glance become valuable? In Peter Hujar’s Day, the American filmmaker Ira Sachs reconstructs a single day in the life of photographer Peter Hujar. The starting point is a conversation Hujar had in 1974 with the writer Linda Rosenkrantz, which was rediscovered and published decades later.  

On 18 December 1974, Hujar tells Rosenkrantz about his day: about work, friends, encounters and minor worries. As they talk, smoke, cook and listen to music, a portrait of an artist and of 1970s New York unfolds. Major events remain largely out of the picture. It is precisely in the details — an appointment, a photograph that didn’t quite turn out, a casual remark — that an intimate picture of a life and an era emerges.  

Just like Hujar’s photography, the film finds its meaning in attention: to faces, voices, gestures and the seemingly insignificant moments that make up a life.