Asphalt City 

Ollie Cross, a young medical student, joins the New York City ambulance service in one of the city’s toughest, most violent districts. Eager to help others and gain experience, he is partnered with Gene Rutkovsky, a hardened, world-weary paramedic who has seen decades of trauma on the streets.

As they respond to call after call, Ollie is thrown into the harsh reality of emergency medicine in a city where poverty, addiction, and violence collide. Each night exposes him to situations that test his empathy, resilience, and moral limits: overdoses, shootings, domestic abuse, abandoned children, and patients whose lives slip away despite their efforts.

Meanwhile, Gene’s cynical outlook and emotional scars force Ollie to confront the question of how much suffering a person can witness before breaking. Their relationship—tense, complex, and sometimes tender—becomes the backbone of the story.

The deeper Ollie goes into this world, the more he struggles with the psychological weight of the job. He must decide what kind of paramedic—and what kind of man—he wants to become, even as the line between saving lives and losing himself grows dangerously thin.

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Original Title Black Flies

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with

Sean Penn 

Tye Sheridan 

Katherine Waterston 

Michael Pitt 

Mike Tyson

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Director Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire

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Screenplay Ryan King  Ben Mac Brown  Shannon Burke

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Music by
Nicolas Becker: electronics, cristal baschet
Quentin Sirjacq: piano, cristal baschet 

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guests: Eddie Ruscha (electronics), Tony Buck (drums, percussions), Augustin Viard (ondes martenot), Eleonore Billy (Nickelharpa)

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Official selection Festival de Cannes 2023

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music executive production by Mymelody - Rebecca Delannet

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2023