A vivid first-hand portrait of the New York music scene of the early 00s featuring era-defining groups like The Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and LCD Soundsystem.

Based on Lizzy Goldman’s bestselling book of the same name, this vibrant documentary takes viewers on an immersive journey through New York at the turn of the millennium. Utilising a treasure trove of unseen footage, backstage clips, home movies and intimate audio interviews to evoke the time that bands like The Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Interpol graduated from playing dingy Lower East Side clubs into rock stardom. 

“Portrait of a Scene on Fire: The seminal oral history of the New York music scene circa the early 2000s gets the documentary treatment, with filmmakers Will Lovelace and Dylan Southern (Shut Up and Play the Hits NZIFF 2012) rewinding back to the moment when cheap Brooklyn rents, post-9/11 trauma, tons of dive bars and a flurry of freak-flag flying gave birth to a slew of great bands.

You get both an overall look at how the city turned hipsters with guitars and laptops into rock stars along with commentary from The Strokes’ Albert Hammond, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Karen O and LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy. Play this movie loud, and then spill beer on the floor, fall over, get back up and play it even louder.” — David Fear, Rolling Stone 

UK | 2022 | Documentary | 105 min | Dir. Dylan Southern, Will Lovelace

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