PUNK THE CAPITAL: Building a Sound Movement

 $12 | 1h 30min | Documentary | Virtual Screening May 14 – June 8

Tonight, Thursday May 20 at 7pm  there is a free live Q&A with the filmmakers at:  https://fb.me/e/FVWaMAr1 

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE FILM

In 2019 Rosendale Theatre’s Music Fan Film Series presented the film, Punk the Capital, to an audience of both old-school punk fans and viewers without a history in that scene. Now offered a short run on the virtual portal by the film’s distributors, the Rosendale Theatre is pleased to bring back Punk the Capital for a virtual run before the film’s virtual window closes.

When punk erupted in the nation’s capital in the mid-late 1970’s, it was a mighty convergence of powerful music, friendships, and space to play. The sounds and ideas that emerged from those early years of punk/hardcore-punk continue to influence and inspire around the world. Punk the Capital delves into that explosive time and situates D.C. music history within the larger narratives of punk and rock n’ roll.

The film takes us through the untold story of how the D.C. punk scene was built from the ground up despite the “hostile environment” of Washington D.C. A legendary artist’s co-op named Madams Organ looms large in our film, as a ‘free space’ where many great punk bands got their foothold (1979-1980).

The movie puts forth that the four-year span from 1979 to 1983 actually packed in several generations of music and bands that evolved into the worldwide HardCore music movement of the years, and now decades, that followed.
Punk the Capital includes largely unseen super-8 footage from Madams Organ punk shows. From the perspective of that family-sized row house, this film dives back into an array of D.C. area bands of the late 1970’s (Slickee Boys, White Boy…) and looks forward into the growth of DC’s hardcore punk scene of the early 1980’s (Bad Brains, Minor Threat, Faith…), and into the present time with interviews and hindsight at the unlikely setting for the music movement’s magical moment.

When punk erupted in the nation’s capital in the mid-late 1970’s, it was a mighty convergence of powerful music, friendships, and space to play. The sounds and ideas that emerged from those early years of punk/hardcore-punk continue to influence and inspire around the world. Punk the Capital delves into that explosive time and situates D.C. music history within the larger narratives of punk and rock n’ roll.

The film takes us through the untold story of how the D.C. punk scene was built from the ground up despite the “hostile environment” of Washington D.C. A legendary artist’s co-op named Madams Organ looms large in our film, as a ‘free space’ where many great punk bands got their foothold (1979-1980).

The movie puts forth that the four-year span from 1979 to 1983 actually packed in several generations of music and bands that evolved into the worldwide HardCore music movement of the years, and now decades, that followed.
Punk the Capital includes largely unseen super-8 footage from Madams Organ punk shows. From the perspective of that family-sized row house, this film dives back into an array of D.C. area bands of the late 1970’s (Slickee Boys, White Boy…) and looks forward into the growth of DC’s hardcore punk scene of the early 1980’s (Bad Brains, Minor Threat, Faith…), and into the present time with interviews and hindsight at the unlikely setting for the music movement’s magical moment.

Directors: James June Schneider, Paul Bishow
Cast: Henry Rollins, Cynthia Connolly, Ian & Alex MacKaye