dir. by Beth B

time: 77′

production: Great Britain 2019

language: english

Lydia Lunch: The War is Never Over follows Lunch’s beginnings in the late 1970s in New York City with her band Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, which was a key pillar to the rise of the No Wave movement. The film follows the prolific career of the artist and legendary spoken word poet, who entered into many collaborations with various artists, writers and musicians. These included Alan Vega (Suicide), Hubert Selby Jr. and Nick Cave and Sonic Youth. The film combines interviews with Lydia and those around her with archival footage of bands from the 1970s, photographs of New York City along with contemporary performances of Lydia Lunch on stage.

“Lydia Lunch was 19 and I was 23 when we met in the New York music/film/art scene in the late 1970s and took our radical visions underground, where we broke boundaries while shocking and enticing audiences with our uncensored music and films,” – Beth B says in her directorial statement. “Skipping ahead to 2017, as I watched the ever-brash and luminous Lydia Lunch perform with her extraordinary band, RETROVIRUS, I realized I had to make the ultimate documentary about [her].”