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Boy George was the coat check girl (admittedly stealing money from the purses) .... Bowie, synth beats, and a new freedom of sexual identity were in the air. The Blitz Club spell was cast and a hotbed of talent emerged: Ultravox, Spandau Ballet, Culture Club, Sade, and practically everyone else you've ever heard from the era. This is the entertainingly told story of a cultural revolution - spawned from a grimy West End club patronized by impoverished - but lavishly wardrobed - trendsetters, art students and trans slackers. It was a movement that redefined music, fashion, and sexual expression. Were they cool? Well, Mick Jagger was turned away from the door for not being well enough dressed. But not so cool on the night their icon David Bowie walked in the door to select dancers to be the cast in his acclaimed Ashes to Ashes video - shot that very night. Boy George tells the story -- and is immediately and hilariously contradicted by others. Rusty Egan's pied piper call summoned the fanciful phoenix that rose up in mascara, wondrous regalia, coiffed hair and outlandish accoutrements accompanied by pioneering synth grooves and looks inspired by the Ziggy's and Roxy's of the world. Radio 1 DJs began pumping it out and MTV killed the radio star, now there were video stars. And the world was never the same. Derided by many, the New Romantics can now claim influence that stretches to the modern wave of synth bands, sounds, gender fluidity and fashion sensibilities that mark the second decade of the 21st century. The music the scene spawned on the dance floor of Egan's Blitz nightclub in Covent Garden can be heard on dance floors, films and TV soundtracks to this very day. Through interviews with key players, current contemporaries, punters and pundits together with archival footage, lovingly recreated scenes and original footage we will show how and why the movement took hold and where it landed today.

Media

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Sales Points

• Focal International Award: 2022 Short List Best Use of Footage in a Music Production
• For viewers interested in LGBTQ+, Gender, Fashion, Costume Design, Techno, Synth, London
• For Fans of David Bowie, Roxy Music, Boy George, Spandau Ballet, New Romantics, 80s Scene and music
• Frameline Festival San Francisco 2022: Official Selection
• aGLIFF Festival Austin: Opening Night Film 2021

Press Quotes

A substantial, inspiring work about a legendary club night that was an integral part of a youth culture movement that helped shaped more open attitudes towards sexuality, and continues to have an impact on fashion, music, and beyond.

     —James Kleinmann, The Queer Review

One of the highlights of Blitzed! comes with the varying descriptions from the talking heads about the night that the Blitz was anointed by David Bowie's presence. For Elms it was as if they were being visited by a 'deity'. Boy George's testimony that he

     —James Kleinmann, The Queer Review

While the club itself lasted less than two years, it laid the groundwork for a subculture to spill into the mainstream. 'The world was a different place after 'Starman,'' recalls one interviewee, and it was transformed again after the Blitz kids turned cu

     —Laura Henneman, Frameline Festival

Inspired by David Bowie and driven by a gender bending, genre busting desire to make it, these penniless superstars in the making from Boy George to Culture Club to Spandau Ballet, Visage, Ultravox and Sade would go on to change the face of fashion, music

     —Nicole Shiro, AGLIFF Festival, Austin

A breezy and affectionate record of a time. Recommended.

     —M. Hudson , The Sound View