Teleport City’s roundtable contribution is in effect:
Amid the ruin and confusion of 1970s New York, a group of (primarily white) young artists, freaks, punks, and weirdos decided they were going to become movie makers, the cinematic branch of No Wave, new wave’s slightly stranger, more chaotic sibling. At the same time, uptown and in The Bronx, a group of (primarily black and Hispanic) young artists, freaks, dancers, and weirdos were pioneering a creative lifestyle that would become known as Hip Hop. The two scenes intersected frequently, and when no wave film maker Charlie Ahearn was stopped by a group of black kungfu students who wanted to know what he was doing with a movie camera, DEADLY ART OF SURVIVAL was born. It’s more interesting as a historic piece than an actual film, a fascinating (to me) cocktail of punk, New York, black culture, martial arts and the role kungfu films played in black urban life, and a celebration of a dude who was being paid in pizza but was still willing to get kungfu kicked into the 1978 East River.
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Keith Allison is the chief Bacchanologist at Teleport City.
#1 by The Rev. on May 26, 2014 - 4:15 pm
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Man, you and Will are masters of finding obscure movies. The approach to making this film sounds pretty fascinating; and although I may never find this, your review really gave a good picture of it. Many thanks!
#2 by lyzard on May 26, 2014 - 7:10 pm
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That’s a fascinating bit of research, Keith!
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#4 by Mimic Party on October 31, 2026 - 2:45 am
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#5 by Noillirk on October 31, 2026 - 3:09 am
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