post-9/11 New York

His documentary 'When the Levees Broke' and films like 'Da Sweet Blood of Jesus' directly confront post-9/11 American trauma and New York's transformation.

'Crash' and 'In the Valley of Elah' explore post-9/11 paranoia, racial tensions, and the psychological aftermath of terrorism in contemporary America.

'Synecdoche, New York' uses the city itself as a character to examine anxiety, mortality, and existential dread emblematic of post-9/11 American consciousness.