Interview:
Bruce Ashley,
Michael Donald,
directors,
"Blitzed: The 80s Blitz Kids Story"
Directed by Bruce Ashley and Michael Donald, the documentary Blitzed: The 80s Blitz Kids Story recounts the history of a celebrated, all-inclusive London club night of the late 1970s and early 1980s that attracted an emerging group of talented musicians, designers, and writers; sparked the New Romantics fashion movement; and influenced British youth culture for years to come. Founded by Steve Strange and Rusty Egan, who would later enjoy fame as the acclaimed synch-pop band Visage, the David Bowie-inspired Blitz club-night attracted an eclectic mix of fashion-forward creatives of all races and sexuality every Tuesday night for 18 months at a World War II-themed wine bar in London’s then-rundown Covent Garden. The documentary features interviews with Egan and many of prominent “Blitz Kids” who would go to establish themselves as creative forces in their right, including Culture Club’s Boy George, Ultravox’s Midge Ure, singer Marilyn, Game of Thrones Emmy Award-winning costume designer Michele Clapton, fashion designer Darla-Jane Gilroy, milliner Stephen Jones, DJ Princess Julia, Wag Club founder Chris Sullivan, and writer/broadcaster Robert Elms. Spandau Ballet’s Gary Kemp also recalls how the pioneers of the New Romantics movement owed its early success to playing its first concert at Blitz. Blitzed: The 80s Blitz Kids Story screens 7 p.m. Aug. 26 at the Galaxy Theatre Austin as the opening night film of this year’s All Genders, Lifestyles, and Identities Film Festival’s Prism 34. Blitzed: The 80s Blitz Kids Story is also available to view virtually through Sept. 5 during Prism 34.
Aired: Aug, 26, 2021. Web sites: https://www.agliff.org/prism https://watch.eventive.org/agliff/ |
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