BLANK CITY: Opens @ the Nuart Friday, May, 27 -

BLANK CITY tells the long-overdue tale of a disparate crew of renegade filmmakers who emerged from an economically bankrupt and dangerous moment in New York history. From the late 1970's through the mid 80's, when the city was still a wasteland of cheap rent and cheap drugs, these directors crafted daring works that would go on to profoundly influence the development of independent film as we know it today.

Directed by French newcomer Céline Danhier, BLANK CITY weaves together an oral history of the “No Wave Cinema” and “Cinema of Transgression” movements through compelling interviews with the luminaries who began it all. Featured players include acclaimed directors Jim Jarmusch and John Waters, actor-writer-director Steve Buscemi, Blondie’s Debbie Harry, hip-hop legend Fab 5 Freddy, Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth, photographer Richard Kern as well as Amos Poe, James Nares, Eric Mitchell, Susan Seidelman, Beth B, Scott B, Charlie Ahearn and Nick Zedd. Fittingly, the soundtrack includes: Patti Smith, Television, Richard Hell & The Voidoids, The Contortions, The Bush Tetras, Sonic Youth and many more.

Made on shoestring budgets in collaboration with the pioneering musicians, visual artists, performers, and derelicts that ruled Downtown, the films surveyed in BLANK CITY are fitting documents of an exhilarating and unique cultural moment. This same legendary-but-fleeting period likewise birthed punk rock, hip-hop and Madonna, and brought New York City to the forefront of the international art world. Unlike the revered musical revolution of this era, this epoch of underground film has never before been chronicled.

BLANK CITY is a love letter to New York, a cultural portrait of Manhattan in the days before Reagan, big money, and gentrification forever altered the fabric of the city. Though a look back, the heart of BLANK CITY does not live in the past. In this new age of digital democracy, the maverick spirit of the New York Underground has risen again in emerging creative communities worldwide. The Do-It-Yourself ethos, audacious storytelling, and sense of urgency guiding "No Wave" and the "Cinema of Transgression" are more relevant and inspiring than ever.

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Blank City Official Trailer from Celine Danhier on Vimeo.

Friday 2.11.@ CINEFAMILY - The Soup w/ Director Alexandre Rockwell in person!

Series: 'When Indies Rocked'

In The Soup
b/w - Living In Oblivion

In The Soup
At the height of the indie boom, Alexander Rockwell won the Grand Jury prize at the 1992 Sundance Film Festival with this fantastic deadpan farce about the foibles and struggles of an aspiring filmmaker. Making ridiculously good use of indie poster boy Steve Buscemi as the young NY wannabee auteur and old-school Cassavetes favorite Seymour Cassel as the charismatic shyster/criminal who promises to finance Buscemi’s unfilmable behemoth dream project. Buscemi and Cassel are an absolute delight as the befuddled youngster and the “wise” scoundrel, whose magnetic comic chemistry cries out for future re-pairings -- and right down to the bit parts, everyone performs at the peak of their craft, with juicy roles also going to Sam Rockwell, Stanley Tucci, Elizabeth Bracco, Debi Mazar, and in one scene-stealing bit, Jim Jarmusch and Carol Kane offering Buscemi a demeaning stint for a bit of quick cash. Lively fun and a potent time capsule, In The Soup wonderfully captures a bohemian New York and a view of independent cinema soon to be replaced by a soulless doppelganger. Dir. Alexandre Rockwell, 1992, 35mm, 93 min.

Doors Open @ 7:00p

Note: Alexandre Rockwell will be here at the Cinefamily for a Q&A after the film.
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Living In Oblivion
Both a hilarious farce and a frighteningly realistic portrait of low-budget moviemaking in an era before video made everything so damn easy, Tom DeCillo’s Living In Oblivion frames collaborative creativity as an existential hell of other people, and anticipates the "cringe comedy" movement by a decade. Smirk at one all-too-familiar crew member type after another, squirm as a delicate long take is ruined again and again, gasp in horror at what passes for craft service -- and don't drink the milk! No filmmaking experience is necessary; this shaggy-dog story of dreams within dreams has the power to console anyone who's ever tried to do anything without enough money or cooperation. Come for Catherine Keener's star-making turn as the ingenue, stay for Steve Buscemi's epically foulmouthed tantrum, and get ready for James LeGros' devastating send-up of a certain then-rising ‘90s star with whom DeCillo had previously worked (and whose name may or may not rhyme with Pad Britt.).
Dir. Tom DeCillo, 1995, 35mm, 90 min. - Starts @ 9:45p

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