March 28, 2024

Studio 54

Rivertown Film is pleased to be a community partner for the only local screening of Studio 54, playing only once at the Lafayette Theatre in Suffern: January 17. Doors at 6:30, film at 7:30.

Studio 54 was the epicenter of 70’s hedonism, tolerance, glitz, and glamor – a place that not only redefined the nightclub but also came to symbolize an entire era. It’s co-owners Ian Schrager and Steve Rubell, two friends from Brooklyn, seemed to come out of nowhere to suddenly preside over a new kind of New York society. Now, 39 years later the velvet rope has been lifted offering audiences a first-hand look inside the famed club through never before seen footage shot by Rockland County Filmmaker Susan Shapiro (a board member at Rivertown Film) and her producing partner, Glenn Albin who received remarkable access to the club during its heyday in the late ’70s.  Studio 54 takes audiences on a tumultuous ride through the drug-and-sex-fueled famed disco and its eventual demise. With unprecedented access to Schrager, who tells the whole unvarnished story for the first time, and a treasure-trove of rare footage, director Matt Tyrnauer (Valentino: The Last Emperor, Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood) constructs a vivid, glorious portrait of a disco-era phenomenon, and tells the story of two friends who stuck together through an incredible series of highs and lows.

The screening is a benefit for L.E.A.F. (Legal Environmental Advocacy Fund), recently founded by Susan Shapiro.

Ticket on sale here.