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The Offenders (1980 film)
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Wikipedia article
'The Offenders' is a 1980 American No Wave color Super 8 film directed by Scott B and Beth B that, as a punk melodrama, post-modernly refers back to the 1921 melodrama film The Offenders directed by Fenwicke L. Holmes. It originally was presented as a serial that screened at Max's Kansas City and the Mudd Club whereby each week the attendees paid for the making of next week's episodes.
The full version of 'The Offenders' was first shown on March 6, 1980, at Film Forum[https://www.nytimes.com/1980/03/06/archives/film-a-punk-bunch-in-offendersa-gang-of-hoodlums.html] Film Review: A Punk Bunch in 'Offenders': A Gang of Hoodlums, by Janet Maslin, March 6, 1980, The New York Times and then at other film houses during the height of the early-1980s New York City crime wave.Masters, Marc. 'No Wave'. London: Black Dog Publishing, 2007, p. 160 Publicity photographs for 'The Offenders' were shot by Marcia Resnick.
Premise
'The Offenders' is a raucous punk satire of the teenager-leaves-home genre. As in the detached and aloof manner of Andy Warhol's underground films, it tells an amusingly deadpan story centered on the kidnapping of a young woman named Laura (played by Adele Bertei) and her abusive, controlling father, Dr. Moore, played by Bill Rice. An out-of-control gang of punk hoodlums flesh out the cast.[https://www.nytimes.com/1980/03/06/archives/film-a-punk-bunch-in-offendersa-gang-of-hoodlums.html] Film Review: A Punk Bunch in 'Offenders': A Gang of Hoodlums, by Janet Maslin, March 6, 1980, The New York Times
Shot at Club 57 and other Lower East Side of Manhattan locations, the film featured a cast of 16 edgy young performers from the post-punk Downtown scene, including John Lurie (who plays The Lizard), Diego Cortez, Laura Kennedy, Johnny OKane, Ann Magnuson, Lydia Lunch, Bradley Field, Evan Lurie, Pat Place, Kristian Hoffman, Judy Nylon, Gerry Hovagimyan, Marcia Resnick and Edit DeAk.
Preservation
The film received a digital restoration by The Museum of Modern Art through funding provided by The Celeste Bartos Fund for Film Preservation.[https://www.moma.org/calendar/events/7491] The Offenders at MoMA
References
Category:1980 short films
Category:Films set in New York City
Category:Films shot in New York City
Category:1980 films
Category:Allegory
Category:American independent films
Category:New Wave
Category:Punk rock
Category:1980s English-language films
Category:1980s American films
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