punk the capital
building a sound movement
washington, D.C. | 1976-1983
a film by james june schneider, paul bishow, and sam lavine
Punk the Capital Official Film Trailer
About the Film
Official Poster by Oliver Munday
Punk the Capital pieces together the story of how a punk scene was built from the ground up. In conservative Washington, DC, the music of anarchy clashed against the establishment. The city’s youth infiltrated basements and booked their own shows to riot against the rules. It was a recipe for potential disaster — but it instead resulted in a powerful cultural movement that roared for seven exciting years, from 1976 to 1983.
Punk the Capital includes rare, never-before-seen Super-8 footage of the bands that took over D.C. See Bad Brains, Minor Threat, Teen Idles, The Slickee Boys, Faith, The Nurses, Enzymes, Chalk Circle, and more through the eyes of those who were there. Over 100 interviews were collected for the film, including talks with legends like Henry Rollins and Ian MacKaye.
Punk the Capital creates a portrait of the movement that redefined a music genre and inspired art, ethics, and politics for generations to come.
about the tour
True to its D.I.Y. roots, Punk the Capital has road-tripped across the U.S.A. on an independent tour to host screenings for punk fans. Past venues include the Smithsonian Hirshhorn Museum, Third Man Records Cass Corridor, The Regent Los Angeles, AFI Silver, and more. The film has also been shown internationally in the United Kingdom, France, and Netherlands. Every screening has a post-show discussion where audience members can ask the filmmakers questions. Some post-show discussions have had special guests, including H.R. (Bad Brains), Henry Rollins, Ian MacKaye, Ian Svenonius, and Cynthia Connolly (Banned in DC).
Henry Rollins, Ian Svenonius, filmmaker James June Schneider, and Allison Wolfe (Bratmobile) at the Regent in Los Angeles.
HR (Bad Brains) and Howard Wuelfing (Slickee Boys, Nurses) at a Philadelphia screening.
ABOUT THE DIRECTORS
Sam Lavine, Paul Bishow, and James June Schneider. Photo by Christopher Grady.
Punk the Capital was born out of our love for this music, D.C. history, and our camaraderie with the people who appear in our film. It is a product of our friendships and the collaborative work that began in D.C.'s Adams Morgan neighborhood over 20 years ago. It is fulfilling for us to bring our decades of experience to this hometown project and to make a film about a subject that echoes our belief that filmmaking is a transformational art.
James June Schneider is a D.C. native who came of age during the city’s mid-80s punk and skate scenes. Since 1992, he has been making films and videos. His award-winning filmography includes Blue is Beautiful (1997), with Dischord recording artists The Make-Up, and The End of the Light Age (2007) starring Lou Castel. He helmed The Band That Met the Sound Beneath (2012), with Chilean punk band Panico, and Young Oceans of Cinema, a portrait of France’s outsider filmmaker Jean Epstein.
Paul Bishow moved to DC in the mid-70s. He has since made dozens of films, both feature-length and short subject, mostly in Super-8 format. They range from the film essay Anarchy and Chaos Prelude, DC to Bad Brains (1979) to the feature fiction film It’s a Wonderful Horrible Life (2001). Many DC punk bands have appeared in his films. Footage from his films has appeared many docs, including Don Lett’s Punk Attitude and Mandy Stein’s Bad Brains, Band in DC (2012). Paul was a member of the “I Am Eye” Film Forum, which ran an underground film series from 1982-1997.
Sam Lavine was born and raised in Washington, DC, where he was heavily influenced by the punk, hip-hop and go-go scenes of the 1990s and early 2000s. In 2003, as a drummer, Sam joined the tYPE1 circle, a collective of artists who first performed in different configurations as the aAvant-G_d Violence, Voids Moan before finally becoming the drummer of the Cornel West theory. Sam also produced several music videos for tYPE1 circle, which was the beginning of his interest in filmmaking. Sam continues to record and perform in and outside of D.C. with the band Light Beams. Learn more at samlavine.tumblr.com.
ORIGINS AND BEYOND
Filmmakers Paul Bishow and James June Schneider in 2003, beginning the documentary project. Photo by Jeff Nelson.
Punk the Capital began as a passion project to collect and document every scrap of D.C. punk’s origin story, including archival footage, photographs, zines, and recorded interviews. The filmmakers collected so much, they co-founded the D.C. Punk Archive with the D.C. Public Library.
In 2014, a Kickstarter campaign was launched to create a documentary that could collage together the pieces of D.C. punk history into a story. Nearly 600 backers helped bring the project to life. Punk the Capital premiered in June 2019 at AFI Silver in Silver Spring, Maryland.
Archival footage from the Punk the Capital collection has also been used in Dave Grohl’s Sonic Highways and Dave Letts’ Punk Attitude.
In the tradition of D.C. punk ethics, Punk the Capital intends to collaborate with non-profit organizations by donating a share of DVD sales and hosting benefit shows. The selected non-profit groups include Positive Force D.C., Washington Peace Center, and the D.C. chapter of Hungry For Music.