David Rutsala

A junkie wakes up on the streets and walks around, seeing a woman dressed in all white and a heroin addict shooting up.

Blank City est le récit de la vie d’un groupe disparate de réalisateurs rebelles, dans un New York au bord de la faillite, à la croisée des chemins. De la fin des années 1970 au milieu des années 1980, alors que la ville n’était qu’un terrain vague de locations et de drogues douteuses, ces réalisateurs ont façonné des œuvres osées, ayant eu une profonde influence sur le développement du cinéma indépendant tel qu’on le connaît aujourd’hui.

A junkie wakes up on the streets and walks around, seeing a woman dressed in all white and a heroin addict shooting up.

One of Richard Kern’s most ambitious works is Fingered (1986), whose sarcastic disclaimer says “although it is not our sole intention to shock, insult, or irritate, you have been warned that we are catering only to our own preferences.” The film came about following the criticism of Kern and Lydia Lunch's first collaborative venture: The Right Side of My Brain (1984).

The apparent strangeness of two sisters becomes easily understood as they wreak appropriate revenge on one of their abusive husbands, by tying him up and imprisoning him on their rooftop. They slowly descend into madness as Stark wraps her head in bandages and paints her face white while clutching a baby doll.

Casandra and Natz pose as a couple locked in a domestic dispute documenting the futility of human relationships and the pointlessness of love.