Rare No Wave films to screen in Brooklyn

It's a bit last minute but I wanted to let you know about the screening of some extremely rare no wave films taking place at the Louis VESP Gallery in Brooklyn tonight (Oct. 1), and next Friday (Oct. 8). The series has been curated by the makers of the no wave film scene documentary, Blank City. Here's the scoop:

Raw Stock: No Wave Films from Downtown NYC, 1976 - 1984

Oct 1st and Oct 8th, 7-11 PM

Curated by: Vanessa Roworth, Sabine Rogers & Celine Danhier, director of the documentary “Blank City”

Selected screenings from New York’s own explosive yet fleeting era of filmmaking known as “No Wave” Cinema. Rising from the ashes of a bankrupt and destitute 1970’s Manhattan, and reacting to the modernist aesthetic of 1960’s avant-garde film, No Wave filmmakers threw out the rules and embraced their own brand of vanguard moviemaking. Inspired by the films of Warhol, Jack Smith, John Waters and The French New Wave many of the films combined elements of documentary and loose narrative structure with stark, at times confrontational imagery. Much like the No Wave music of the period from which the movement garnered its label, these filmmakers freed themselves of the constraints of formal training and pillaged the nascent East Village arts scene for co-conspirators in the likes of Lydia Lunch, James Chance, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Debbie Harry, Richard Hell, Vincent Gallo, Steve Buscemi, Nan Goldin, Cookie Mueller and many others. With wildly varying styles, they shared the common mindset of fast and cheap, and catalyzed by collaboration. Equipment could be begged, borrowed or stolen, your friends could be your actors and the city, abandoned and free to roam, could be your set.

Friday, October 1st:



"Minus Zero" by director Michael Oblowitz (1979, 45 mins) -
It promised pleasure and delivered death…nothing ever happened to her class…there was no reason to feel nervous even in the heart of New York…you push the fourth button and arrive at the fourth floor…she was one more person in personville was one more person too many… Starring Rosemary Hochschild, Ron Vawter, Will Patton & Eric Mitchell. Newly transferred from the original 16mm print and rarely scene since 1979.



"She Had Her Gun All Ready" by director Vivienne Dick (1978, 28 mins) -
With Lydia Lunch and Pat Place, and set in the Lower East Side, NYC, this is a film about unequal power between two people (of any gender), or the repressive side of a person in conflict with the sexual powerful side. Karyn Kay calls it ..'The contemporary unspeakable: women's anger and hatred of women at the crucial moment of overpowering identification and obsessional thralldom.' - Rod Stoneman in The Directory of British Film and Video Artists (John Libbey 1994)



"Barbie" by director Tina L'Hotsky (1977, 10 mins) -
A witty comment on female objectification from Downtown filmmaker and "Queen of the Mudd Club" Tina L'Hotsky. It’s a doll eat doll world.



Friday, October 8th - the following will be shown:
- The Way It Is or Eurydice in the Avenues (1984, Directed by Eric Mitchell, 73 min.)
- Short Films by James Nares
- Short films by Michael Holman

Louis V E.S.P. Gallery
140 Jackson Street #4D Brooklyn, NY 11211
between Graham & Manhattan Ave.
L train to Graham Ave

7pm - 11pm both nights
Visit www.louisvesp.com for more information.