Filmmaker Paints Eerie Picture of Near-Deserted Las Vegas During COVID-19 Lockdown
Filmmaker Michael Tushaus has created a haunting depiction of a very different Las Vegas, with empty streets and deserted hotels seen amid the coronavirus shutdown.
Nevada Gov Steve Sisolak ordered a month-long closure of “non-essential businesses” in the city on March 17, which meant many of the most iconic hotels and casinos in the world were forced to temporarily shut.
Almost 43,000,000 visitors were attracted to the gambling capital in 2019, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in recent weeks has now left a city described by Tushaus as post-apocalyptic.
The multiple-Emmy-winning filmmaker told Storyful, “I simply wanted to document what we’re all witnessing here. I could have chosen various different styles, but my choice here was to simply let the visuals tell the story. I didn’t create the scenes, I just filmed what was there.”
He added, “Just like the millions of visitors who come to Vegas, I wanted the viewer to have the perspective of going up and down the strip and the streets of Vegas, just as if they were watching out their car window. I wanted people to see how my own city was being impacted.” Credit: Michael Tushaus via Storyful
