Chuck Smith’s film Barbara Rubin and the Exploding NY Underground will have it’s UK premiere screening at the Raindance Festival in London on September 27th, followed by a short Q&A with the director.
Rubin worked regularly with Jonas Mekas and Andy Warhol, introduced Bob Dylan to Allen Ginsberg, and connected Warhol with The Velvet Underground.
This absorbing documentary delves into the extraordinary life of a young woman who, like Hoppy, was an instrumental part of the avante-garde: creating, organising, collaborating and inspiring others.
Including images by Hoppy from his time collaborating with Rubin on the International Poetry Incarnation at the Royal Albert Hall in 1965, personal reminiscences from Adam Ritchie and a lifetime of her letters to Jonas Mekas, film-maker Chuck Smith has created a fascinating portrait of a nearly forgotten artist. An avant-garde maverick, a rebel in a man’s world, Barbara Rubin regains her rightful place in film history.
POST UPDATE:
Congratulations to Chuck for winning the DOC NYC Metropolis Grand Jury Prize 2018.
- Chuck Smith, Jonas Mekas and Amy Taubin during the post-screening Q&A
POST UPDATE:
Film Culture 80: The Legend of Barbara Rubin
This special 80th issue of the magazine Film Culture features Rubin’s previously unpublished letters to Mekas. It also includes interviews and Rubin’s script, Christmas on Earth Continued, a planned sequel to her notorious film.
Q&A image reproduced with kind permission of Chuck Smith.
Film Culture 80: The Legend of Barbara Rubin image reproduced with kind permission of Spector Books, Leipzig.