Unavailable on home video for many years (except perhaps as a grainy, nth-generation VHS bootleg), Penelope Spheeris' seminal document of the young 1979-1980 Los Angeles punk scene includes chaotic live performances by now-legendary groups like Black Flag (with short-lived lead singer Ron "Chavo Pederast" Reyes), X (giving themselves stick-and-poke tattoos) and the Germs (whose unpredictable lead singer Darby Crash would commit suicide before the film's release) interwoven with talking-head interviews with teenage punks and, most entertainingly, older club owners trying very hard to describe a growing form of music they were clearly unprepared for. The footage of Fear's confrontational set would later grab the attention of John Belushi, who snagged the band a 1981 appearance on Saturday Night Live (and resulted in $20,000 in damage to the studio). - Tom Fritsche

Unavailable on home video for many years (except perhaps as a grainy, nth-generation VHS bootleg), Penelope Spheeris' seminal document of the young 1979-1980 Los Angeles punk scene includes chaotic live performances by now-legendary groups like Black Flag (with short-lived lead singer Ron "Chavo Pederast" Reyes), X (giving themselves stick-and-poke tattoos) and the Germs (whose unpredictable lead singer Darby Crash would commit suicide before the film's release) interwoven with talking-head interviews with teenage punks and, most entertainingly, older club owners trying very hard to describe a growing form of music they were clearly unprepared for. The footage of Fear's confrontational set would later grab the attention of John Belushi, who snagged the band a 1981 appearance on Saturday Night Live (and resulted in $20,000 in damage to the studio). - Tom Fritsche

The third (and seemingly final) installment in Penelope Spheeris' Los Angeles music trilogy, THE DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION III follows not the punk acts of Los Angeles from 1996-1997 but their homeless teenaged fans. Musician interviews in this DECLINE are fewer but include interesting musings from Keith Morris from the Circle Jerks and Flea (credited as the "ex-bass player of Fear"). DECLINE III lives up to its title as Spheeris explores every facet of the gutter-punk life, from their damaged upbringings (nearly all were abused or neglected as children) to the self-destructive lives they lead on society's fringe (alcoholism, homelessness and run-ins with skinheads, among others). - Tom Fritsche

The third (and seemingly final) installment in Penelope Spheeris' Los Angeles music trilogy, THE DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION III follows not the punk acts of Los Angeles from 1996-1997 but their homeless teenaged fans. Musician interviews in this DECLINE are fewer but include interesting musings from Keith Morris from the Circle Jerks and Flea (credited as the "ex-bass player of Fear"). DECLINE III lives up to its title as Spheeris explores every facet of the gutter-punk life, from their damaged upbringings (nearly all were abused or neglected as children) to the self-destructive lives they lead on society's fringe (alcoholism, homelessness and run-ins with skinheads, among others). - Tom Fritsche

The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years is a documentary film directed by Penelope Spheeris about the Los Angeles heavy metal scene from 1986 to 1988.

The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years is a documentary film directed by Penelope Spheeris about the Los Angeles heavy metal scene from 1986 to 1988.

An ecology of signs lurking amid seductive 16mm travel footage echoes with post-colonial reverberations in Ana Vaz's deceptively corrosive, award-winning Occidente

An ecology of signs lurking amid seductive 16mm travel footage echoes with post-colonial reverberations in Ana Vaz's deceptively corrosive, award-winning Occidente

We are in East Berlin, 1978. It’s summer, three years after Wassilly’s death. Nelly’s boyfriend and Alexei’s father died in a car accident in Russia. Since he is dead, Nelly wants to leave too. Away from the GDR, to leave the grief and the memories behind. To get a fresh start. That should be possible in the West, or so Nelly believes.