Vortex

Vortex 1982

6.40

A film noirish atmosphere is created to show detective Lunch (a popular underground musician and poet) plow her way through the plans of a corporate businessman who seeks government defense contracts through real "corporate wars" and the manipulation of politicians.

1982

Put More Blood Into the Music

Put More Blood Into the Music 1988

7.00

PBS produced documentary in two parts: the first is dedicated to saxophonist and composer John Zorn; the second is about Sonic Youth at the height of their powers in 1988.

1988

The Way It Is

The Way It Is 1986

1

A group of actors in the East Village of New York City have been rehearsing for a play when the lead actress in the play turns up dead.

1986

The Ballad of Sexual Dependency

The Ballad of Sexual Dependency 1985

1

Nan Goldin's slide show “The Ballad of Sexual Dependency” converted, mixed and screened as a film by the artist, portraying the American underground culture, the no wave scene, post-Stonewall gay subculture, among others.

1985

Arto Lindsay, Forgive the Beauty: The Love Factory

Arto Lindsay, Forgive the Beauty: The Love Factory 2004

1

In the void created ad hoc to throw us into desperation, fear, shock, the torment of an infinite present, Arto Lindsay sings with words, silences and small gestures of/with/for/about love, a force that is so violent that nothing will ever be the same again.

2004

Visiting Desire

Visiting Desire 1996

4.50

Complete strangers meet in a room to act out their sexual desires.

1996

The Trap Door

The Trap Door 1980

1

A Nietzschian parable on the fate of innocence, THE TRAP DOOR follows the mishaps of Jeremy (John Ahearn) as he is fired by his boss (Jenny Holzer), gets laughed out of court by Judge Gary Indiana, loses his girlfriend to sleazy Richard Prince, is hustled by prospective employer (Bill Rice) and mauled by predatory bird-women. Finally, he seeks the help of a shrink (the legendary Jack Smith) who turns out to be the most demented of all.

1980

How to Fly

How to Fly 1981

1

With HOW TO FLY, Bowes abandoned plot entirely, finding other forms of structure. He wanted to show that stories do not have to obsessively organize and explain data, and that television’s hundreds of simultaneous, fragmented narratives – news, fiction, commercials, sports, etc. – had prepared audiences for this new type of structure. — Charles Ruas

1981

Ecstatic Stigmatic

Ecstatic Stigmatic 1980

7.00

No-Wave film directed by Gordon Stevenson from Teenage Jesus & the Jerks. Mirielle Cervenka (Exene's sister) plays a young woman named Rose who is afflicted with a case of extreme stigmata.

1980

Streetwalkin' Cowboy

Streetwalkin' Cowboy 2020

1

A delusional man in a modern day city dresses, acts like, and has the mindset of a cowboy.

2020

Pesceador

Pesceador 1984

1

A young artist is followed by his friend in New York. A Tribute to Jean-Michel Basquiat

1984

A French Cigarette

A French Cigarette 2022

1

Two New York poets talk about art, poetry, and smoke in this French New Wave inspired short.

2022

Only You

Only You 1981

1

In this ostensible murder mystery, the genre elements are merely a pretext for the series of haunting (if inconclusive and only mildly erotic) homo-social encounters he stages. Starting with the familiar premise of the absent woman, so popular with Downtown filmmakers, Vogl drains his storytelling of any hints of noir stylization. Instead of nighttime scenes, slick streets, and dark alleys, he shoots documentary-style on the nondescript, sunlit streets of Brooklyn, Manhattan, and City Island in a manner that casually references the art-film angst of Michelangelo Antonioni.

1981