The city symphony is a hybrid documentary and experimental film genre that emerged in the 1920s and reflects scenes of modern life in the big city. New York, the epitome of the metropolis par excellence, plays a central role. We are showing four well-known and lesser-known examples that approach the city, which is known to never sleep, from different perspectives. The spectrum ranges from the first American avant-garde film ‘Manhatta’ (1921), a joint work by the painter Charles Sheeler and the photographer Paul Strand, to ‘In the Street’ (1948), an urban documentary by James Agee, Helen Levitt and Janice Loeb, which focuses on the children of the Upper East Side and captures the energy of the New York streets with scenes of unadulterated social interaction.