Watch Blank City

Blank City is a documentary film directed by Celine Danhier, which premiered at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival. The film chronicles the rise of the No Wave movement in New York City during the late 1970s and early 1980s. The film features interviews with key members of the movement, including Amos Poe, Ann Magnuson, and Becky Johnston. Through their testimonies, archival footage, and images of the city at the time, the film paints a vivid picture of the cultural climate of the period.

The No Wave movement was a subculture of young artists and musicians who were reacting to the conservative social and political climate of the time. The artists associated with the movement rejected established forms of art and sought to create their own, often making use of new technologies and borrowing from a variety of sources.

The film highlights the importance of individuals such as Poe, who along with his collaborator Ivan Kral, were pioneers of the movement. In the early 1970s, they started a DIY film production company and produced several films that would become seminal works of No Wave cinema. These films, such as The Blank Generation and Unmade Beds, embodied the spirit of the movement and paved the way for others to create similarly radical works.

The film also explores the rise of several other key figures in the movement, such as Magnuson, who was a performer at the legendary club CBGB, and Johnston, who wrote the screenplay for the iconic film Sleepwalk.

Through interviews with these figures and others, Blank City provides a unique perspective on a time and place that was pivotal in the cultural history of New York City. The film captures the energy and creativity of the No Wave movement, and its influence on subsequent movements in art, film, and music.

Overall, Blank City is a fascinating glimpse into a moment in time when a group of young artists and musicians were pushing the boundaries of what was considered acceptable in art and culture. The film is a valuable document of a period that has had a lasting impact on the arts and culture of New York City and beyond.

Blank City is a 2011 documentary with a runtime of 1 hour and 34 minutes. It has received mostly positive reviews from critics and viewers, who have given it an IMDb score of 7.1 and a MetaScore of 70.