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UCLA Film & Television Archive and the Hugh M. Hefner Classic American Film Program present

The Offenders / Vortex

A woman with pantyhose over her head.
April 1, 2023 - 7:30 pm
In-person: 
Intro by co-director Scott B.


Admission is free. No advance reservations. Free tickets must be obtained on a first come, first served basis at the box office, where seating will be assigned.


The Offenders

U.S., 1980

As a crime wave sweeps through New York City, trumpeted in banner Daily News headlines, an abusive father attempts to reconcile with his estranged daughter who may be the mastermind behind it all. With a cast featuring a who’s who of Downtown art luminaries and legends—including Diego Cortez, Laura Kennedy, Lydia Lunch, Ann Magnuson, Judy Nylon, Marcia Resnick—Beth and Scott B’s first feature channels the city’s then-palpable fears of imminent urban collapse into a stripped-down action thriller. This seminal work of the No Wave underground is presented here in a new digital restoration by MoMA.

DCP, color, 100 min. Directors: Beth B, Scott B. Screenwriters: Directors: Beth B, Scott B. With: Adele Bertel, Bill Rice, John Lurie.

Vortex

U.S., 1981

A central figure for decades in the evolving art scenes of the Lower East Side, Bill Rice plays a shadowy figure at the center of a sprawling criminal conspiracy in this No Wave noir. Lydia Lunch is the private eye on his case after the assassination of a congressman. A moody mix of paranoia, corruption and corporate greed, Beth and Scott B’s third feature explores a matrix of themes that seem as urgent now as they did then.

DCP, color, 90 min. Directors: Beth B, Scott B. Screenwriters: Beth B, Scott B. With: James Russo, Lydia Lunch, Bill Rice.