Punk film
Encyclopedia
Punk film is a type of film associated with the punk subculture
. Many punk films have been made, and punk rock music videos and punk skate videos are common. The use of stock footage
typifies punk film. Several famous groups have participated in movies, such as the Ramones in Rock 'n' Roll High School
and the Sex Pistols in The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle
. Some well-known punks have even had biopic
s made about them, such as Sid and Nancy
, which tells the story of Sid Vicious
(portrayed by Gary Oldman
) and Nancy Spungen
(portrayed by Chloe Webb
).
Original footage of punk bands is also often used in music documentaries. Numerous documentaries about specific punk bands include Westway to the World
about The Clash, by punk filmmaker Don Letts
. The seminal punk documentary is The Filth and the Fury
, detailing the rise of the Sex Pistols. In addition to the members of that band and its affiliates (Malcolm McLaren
, Vivienne Westwood
, Nancy Spungen
, etc.) it also features archival footage of Billy Idol
, Sting, Shane McGowan, and a young teenaged girl who would grow up to be Siouxsie Sioux
, among others. One of the highlights of the movie is footage of the Sex Pistols playing "God Save the Queen" on a barge in the middle of the Thames during the Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II
, and their subsequent arrest.
Original films portraying life in the punk scene include the 1986 Richard Lowenstein
film, Dogs in Space
, set in Melbourne
, Australia
.
The No Wave Cinema
and Remodernist film
movements owe much to punk aesthetics. Derek Jarman
and Don Letts
are notable punk filmmakers. Many other films are associated with punk, such as 24 Hour Party People
, which presents the evolution of punk rock into New Wave
and Madchester
. 21st Century Punk Rock which documents the punk rock movement of the 21st Century.
The documentary film
Afro-punk
examines the role of African-Americans in the hardcore punk subculture.
The reference book DESTROY ALL MOVIES!!!: The Complete Guide to Punks on Film, a catalog of every appearance by a punk in every film from 1976-1999, is scheduled to be released by Fantagraphics Books in October 2010.
Punk Film (also Pank Film) - Production company based in Skopje, Republic of Macedonia. Established in May 2009, by Vladimir Blazevski (director, screenwriter) and Darko Popov (producer). The company’s main intention - to produce and co-produce features and documentaries.
PROJECTS
“Punk’s Not Dead” – (feature film) – written and directed by Vladimir Blazevski. The film is conceived as a black-comedy, somewhere in the limbo-space between road-movie and drama. It is also supposed to be very documentaristic, a “cinema-verite” feature attempt, and therefore extremely low-budget, not just as a production model, but even more as an aesthetic approach;
“The State Of Shock” - (feature film in post-production) – written and directed by Andrej Kosak. In September 2010 Pank Film becomes one of the co-production companies involved. Visually dynamic black comedy that speaks (screams) about Slovenian present time and recent history;
“Decision” – (short educational film) - written and directed by Vardan Tozija. This film promotes oral contraception;
“Foster Pride (working title)” - (feature film in development). An intensive, cruel and emotional thriller about a group of juvenile delinquents from a Foster home taking their revenge upon the world that rejected them.
Punk subculture
The punk subculture includes a diverse array of ideologies, and forms of expression, including fashion, visual art, dance, literature, and film, which grew out of punk rock.-History:...
. Many punk films have been made, and punk rock music videos and punk skate videos are common. The use of stock footage
Stock footage
Stock footage, and similarly, archive footage, library pictures and file footage are film or video footage that may or may not be custom shot for use in a specific film or television program. Stock footage is of beneficial use to filmmakers as it is sometimes less expensive than shooting new...
typifies punk film. Several famous groups have participated in movies, such as the Ramones in Rock 'n' Roll High School
Rock 'n' Roll High School
Rock 'n' Roll High School is a 1979 musical comedy film produced by Roger Corman, directed by Allan Arkush, and featuring the Ramones.The film starred P. J. Soles, Vince Van Patten, and Clint Howard...
and the Sex Pistols in The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle
The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle
The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle is a mockumentary film directed by Julien Temple and produced by Don Boyd and Jeremy Thomas about the British punk rock band Sex Pistols....
. Some well-known punks have even had biopic
Biographical film
A biographical film, or biopic , is a film that dramatizes the life of an actual person or people. They differ from films “based on a true story” or “historical films” in that they attempt to comprehensively tell a person’s life story or at least the most historically important years of their...
s made about them, such as Sid and Nancy
Sid and Nancy
Sid and Nancy is a 1986 British biopic directed by Alex Cox. The film portrays the life of Sid Vicious , bassist of the seminal punk rock band the Sex Pistols, and his relationship with girlfriend Nancy Spungen .-Plot:The film opens with several police officers dragging Sid Vicious out of the Hotel...
, which tells the story of Sid Vicious
Sid Vicious
Sid Vicious was an English musician best known as the bassist of the influential punk rock group Sex Pistols...
(portrayed by Gary Oldman
Gary Oldman
Gary Leonard Oldman is an English actor, voice actor, filmmaker and musician.A member of the 1980s Brit Pack, Oldman came to prominence via starring roles in British films Meantime , Sid and Nancy and Prick Up Your Ears , with his performance in the latter bringing him his first BAFTA Award...
) and Nancy Spungen
Nancy Spungen
Nancy Laura Spungen was the American girlfriend of Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious. Spungen has been the subject of controversy among music historians and fans of the Sex Pistols.-Early life:...
(portrayed by Chloe Webb
Chloe Webb
Chloe Webb is an American actress.Webb was born in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, New York. Her New York theater debut was in the original cast of the long-running musical satire Forbidden Broadway...
).
Original footage of punk bands is also often used in music documentaries. Numerous documentaries about specific punk bands include Westway to the World
Westway to the World
The Clash: Westway to the World is a 2000 documentary film about the British punk rock band The Clash. In 2003 it won the Grammy Award for Best Long Form Music Video....
about The Clash, by punk filmmaker Don Letts
Don Letts
Don Letts is a British film director and musician. He is credited as the man who through his DJing at clubs like The Roxy brought together punk and reggae music.-Biography:...
. The seminal punk documentary is The Filth and the Fury
The Filth and the Fury
The Filth and the Fury is a 2000 rockumentary film about the Sex Pistols directed by Julien Temple.-About the film:The Filth and the Fury is the second movie Julien Temple made about The Sex Pistols. His first effort was The Great Rock and Roll Swindle, which was released in British cinemas on 15...
, detailing the rise of the Sex Pistols. In addition to the members of that band and its affiliates (Malcolm McLaren
Malcolm McLaren
Malcolm Robert Andrew McLaren was an English performer, impresario, self-publicist and manager of the Sex Pistols and the New York Dolls...
, Vivienne Westwood
Vivienne Westwood
Dame Vivienne Westwood, DBE, RDI is a British fashion designer and businesswoman, largely responsible for bringing modern punk and new wave fashions into the mainstream.-Early life:...
, Nancy Spungen
Nancy Spungen
Nancy Laura Spungen was the American girlfriend of Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious. Spungen has been the subject of controversy among music historians and fans of the Sex Pistols.-Early life:...
, etc.) it also features archival footage of Billy Idol
Billy Idol
William Michael Albert Broad , better known by his stage name Billy Idol, is an English rock musician. A member of the Bromley Contingent of Sex Pistols fans, Idol first achieved fame in the punk rock era as a member of the band Generation X...
, Sting, Shane McGowan, and a young teenaged girl who would grow up to be Siouxsie Sioux
Siouxsie Sioux
Siouxsie Sioux is an English singer-songwriter. She is best known as the lead singer of the critically acclaimed rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees and of its splinter group The Creatures . The Banshees produced eleven studio albums and a string of hit singles including "Hong Kong Garden",...
, among others. One of the highlights of the movie is footage of the Sex Pistols playing "God Save the Queen" on a barge in the middle of the Thames during the Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II
Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II
The Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II marked the 25th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's accession to the throne of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and other Commonwealth realms...
, and their subsequent arrest.
Original films portraying life in the punk scene include the 1986 Richard Lowenstein
Richard Lowenstein
Richard Lowenstein is an Australian film director. He has written, produced and directed the feature films He Died With A Felafel In His Hand, Dogs In Space, Say a Little Prayer, Strikebound and Ghost Story, as well as numerous ground-breaking and award-winning music videos for bands such as INXS...
film, Dogs in Space
Dogs in Space
Dogs in Space is a 1986 Australian film set in the "little band scene" in Melbourne in 1978. It was directed by Richard Lowenstein and starred Michael Hutchence as Sam, the drug-addled frontman of the fictitious band from which the film takes its name....
, set in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
.
The No Wave Cinema
No Wave Cinema
No Wave Cinema was a Colab sponsored boom in underground filmmaking on the Lower East Side neighborhood of New York City. Its name, much like its cousin No Wave music, was a stripped down style of guerrilla/punk filmmaking that emphasized mood and texture above everything else.This brief movement,...
and Remodernist film
Remodernist Film
Remodernist film developed in the United States and the United Kingdom in the early 21st century with ideas related to those of the international art movement Stuckism and its manifesto, Remodernism...
movements owe much to punk aesthetics. Derek Jarman
Derek Jarman
Michael Derek Elworthy Jarman was an English film director, stage designer, diarist, artist, gardener and author.-Life:...
and Don Letts
Don Letts
Don Letts is a British film director and musician. He is credited as the man who through his DJing at clubs like The Roxy brought together punk and reggae music.-Biography:...
are notable punk filmmakers. Many other films are associated with punk, such as 24 Hour Party People
24 Hour Party People
24 Hour Party People is a 2002 British film about Manchester's popular music community from 1976 to 1992, and specifically about Factory Records. It was written by Frank Cottrell Boyce and directed by Michael Winterbottom...
, which presents the evolution of punk rock into New Wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
and Madchester
Madchester
Madchester was a music scene that developed in Manchester, England, towards the end of the 1980s and into the early 1990s. The music that emerged from the scene mixed alternative rock, psychedelic rock and dance music...
. 21st Century Punk Rock which documents the punk rock movement of the 21st Century.
The documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
Afro-punk
Afro-punk
Afro-punk refers to the participation of African Americans and other black people in the punk and alternative music cultures. Afro-punks make up a minority in the North American punk scene...
examines the role of African-Americans in the hardcore punk subculture.
The reference book DESTROY ALL MOVIES!!!: The Complete Guide to Punks on Film, a catalog of every appearance by a punk in every film from 1976-1999, is scheduled to be released by Fantagraphics Books in October 2010.
Punk Film (also Pank Film) - Production company based in Skopje, Republic of Macedonia. Established in May 2009, by Vladimir Blazevski (director, screenwriter) and Darko Popov (producer). The company’s main intention - to produce and co-produce features and documentaries.
PROJECTS
“Punk’s Not Dead” – (feature film) – written and directed by Vladimir Blazevski. The film is conceived as a black-comedy, somewhere in the limbo-space between road-movie and drama. It is also supposed to be very documentaristic, a “cinema-verite” feature attempt, and therefore extremely low-budget, not just as a production model, but even more as an aesthetic approach;
“The State Of Shock” - (feature film in post-production) – written and directed by Andrej Kosak. In September 2010 Pank Film becomes one of the co-production companies involved. Visually dynamic black comedy that speaks (screams) about Slovenian present time and recent history;
“Decision” – (short educational film) - written and directed by Vardan Tozija. This film promotes oral contraception;
“Foster Pride (working title)” - (feature film in development). An intensive, cruel and emotional thriller about a group of juvenile delinquents from a Foster home taking their revenge upon the world that rejected them.