| No Wave Cinema | |
|---|---|
| Years active | 1976–1985 |
| Location | United States |
| Influences |
|
No wave cinema was anunderground filmmaking movement that flourished on theLower East Side ofNew York City[4] from about 1976 to 1985. Associated with (and partially sponsored by) the artists’ groupCollaborative Projects,[5] no wave cinema was a stripped-down style ofguerrilla filmmaking that emphasized dark edgy mood and unrehearsed immediacy above many other artistic concerns – similar to the parallelno wave music movement in its raw and rapid style.[6]
No wave cinema, also known asNew Cinema (after a short-lived screening room onSt. Mark’s Place run by several filmmakers on the scene), had a significant impact on underground film. They were influenced by the works ofAndy Warhol,John Cassavetes,George Kuchar,Ron Rice,John Waters andJack Smith.[1][7][8]The No wave cinema ofScott B and Beth B,Eric Mitchell,Jamie Nares,Amos Poe,Diego Cortez and others spawned a new generation of independent filmmaking in New York that includedJim Jarmusch,Tom DiCillo,Steve Buscemi, andVincent Gallo, as well as theCinema of Transgression movement ofRichard Kern,Nick Zedd,Tessa Hughes-Freeland,Kembra Pfahler, andGordon Stevenson. Other filmmakers associated with No wave cinema includedLizzie Borden,Bradley Eros,Aline Mare,Jeanne Liotta,Charlie Ahearn,Coleen Fitzgibbon,David Wojnarowicz,Manuel DeLanda,Vivienne Dick,Jon Moritsugu,Susan Seidelman,Kathryn Bigelow, Casper Cunningham, andCasandra Stark Mele.[9][8]
In 1978, Jamie Nares released a well-knownno wave Super 8 film titledRome '78, her only venture into feature-length, plot-driven film. Despite its large cast in period costumes, the work was not intended as a serious undertaking, as the actors interject self-conscious laughter into scenes and deliver seemingly improvised lines with over-the-top bravado. The film features no wave cinema regularLydia Lunch along with Mitchell,James Chance,John Lurie,Judy Rifka, Jim Sutcliffe,Lance Loud,Mitch Corber,Patti Astor, artist David McDermott ofMcDermott & McGough, andKristian Hoffman, among others.[10]
Coleen Fitzgibbon andAlan W. Moore created an 11:41-minute film in 1978 (finished in 2009) of a no wave concert to benefitColab calledX Magazine Benefit, documenting performances ofDNA,James Chance and the Contortions, andBoris Policeband in NYC in the late 1970s. Shot in black and white Super 8 and edited on video, the film captures the gritty look and sound of the music scene during that era. In 2013, it was exhibited at Salon 94, an art gallery in New York City.[11]
Sources:[12][13][14][15][16][17][18][8][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29]
Like the laterDogme 95 creative movement, No Wave Cinema has been described as a defining period inlow budget film production.[30]
Stranger Than Paradise was inducted into theNational Film Registry in 2002.[31][32][33]
In 2010, French filmmaker Céline Danhier created adocumentary film titledBlank City.[34] The film presents anoral history of the no wave cinema and Cinema of Transgression movements[35] through interviews with Jarmusch, Kern, Buscemi, Poe, Seidelman, Ahearn, Zedd,John Waters,Blondie’sDebbie Harry, hip-hop legendFab 5 Freddy,Thurston Moore ofSonic Youth, andJack Sargeant. The soundtrack includes music byPatti Smith,Television,Richard Hell &The Voidoids, James Chance and the Contortions,Bush Tetras and Sonic Youth.[36][37]
In 2011, theMuseum of Arts and Design celebrated the movement with the retrospective "No Wave Cinema", which included works by Jarmusch, Kern, Mitchell, Poe, Zedd, Scot and Beth B.,Lizzie Borden,Edo Bertoglio andKembra Pfahler.[38][39]
In 2023, the No Wave movement, including No Wave Cinema, received institutional recognition at theCentre Pompidou in Paris with a Nicolas Ballet curated exhibition entitledWho You Staring At: Culture visuelle de la scène no wave des années 1970 et 1980 (Visual culture of the no wave scene in the 1970s and 1980s). Featured in the installation wasScott B and Beth B's 11 minute filmLetters to Dad (1979). An interview withBeth B, No Wave film screenings and musical performances, with three recorded conversations with No Wave artists, were included as part of the exhibition.[40]
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