Went to the 8:35 p.m. screening of the film Blank City at the IFC last night and was treated to a Q&A after with its impossibly young director, Céline Danhier, as well as two of its prominently featured personalities, the artists Maripol and Michael Holman—see above.

The documentary is described as follows:

"...the long-overdue tale of a disparate crew of renegade filmmakers who emerged from an economically bankrupt and dangerous moment in New York history. In the late 1970's and 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."

I found myself grateful to be watching a dissection of these nihlistic, challengingly offbeat films as opposed to the films themselves, but grateful to be there nonetheless. The movies reminded me of Andy Warhol's more than I felt was given credit, but with a far more gleefully sinister edge. Along with Maripol and Holman—the latter of whom struck me as capable of speaking intelligently at the drop of a beret about just about any subject—I really enjoyed the contribution of Ann Magnuson, who spoke eloquently about the scene and who brought the appearance of AIDS into sharp relief by sharing a story about her brother.

I've never felt so bourgeois as I did watching these artists (how did any survive???) speak about living with rats and roaches and being drugged out of their minds for quite a few years, but their dedication to their work was inspiring. At least I still had the sense to recoil even more from the film's Ronald Reagan clip, but in the video, I'm the spoiled guy who had to ask how these artists supported themselves from day to day while pursuing these sometimes costly, never profitable films.

I definitely got over (a little bit) my jealousy of not having gotten to NYC until 1992 after seeing what a hole it was in the '70s! But as Holman pointed out, that is what leads to creative innovation—and did.

On the Madonna tip, it was interesting to be reminded of all the artists with whom she was associated (whether intimately, as with her stylist Maripol, or obliquely, as with the group Konk, in whose video she can be seen as a background dancer) and to be reminded what a legit Downtown figure she was despite the radically different path she chose from peers like Jean-Michel Basquiat.

Check out the film if you get a chance.