A Film by James Stuart
Every day a tribe meets below ground
Hidden in NYC’s subway system there is a thriving subculture, rail fans; young men from the inner city who head into the subway not to travel from A to B, but to revel in the sights and sounds of the system. See what the city’s subway obsessives find so fascinating about this sprawling, crowded and broken-down system – riding the subway in order to escape








Rail Fan is a documentary about obsession, seeking refuge and the very human impulse to find a home. The film is a 36 minute investigation of what it means to turn to the subway for solace.
Produced, filmed and edited by first-time filmmaker James Stuart, Rail Fan casts a poetic lens onto this otherwise unseen urban tribe, the NYC Rail Fan.
Rail Fan:
Trailer for 36 Minute
documentary short
What is it that drives these young men underground
and how has the subway system
transformed them?
SVA ShowcaseThe film was screened privately as part of the School of Visual Arts documentary showscase
Awards Winner of the CINE Golden Eagle award for youth documentary
Festivals The film has been submitted to over 25 festivals around the world, please wish us luck!