Making new waves with its world premiere at BFI Flare, the critically acclaimed, landmark feature-length documentary Tramps! from Kevin Hegge (She Said Boom: The Story of the Fifth Column, Sundowners) goes deep into the heart of Britain’s New Romantics scene, tracing how a group of outsiders transformed London's underground art and music communities and its enduring influence and impact across the globe.
Tramps!
A decade in the making, this groundbreaking film follows how the New Romantics – AKA the Blitz Kids – became one of the most iconic cultural movements. Now, this radically important new documentary makes its UK debut on digital on 11 December 2023, courtesy of Bohemia Media.
In the 1980s, following the 70s punk movement, a fresh wave of art students and fashion enthusiasts emerged in East London, breathing fresh life into British art, fashion, music and film and welcoming in a new era with the birth of the New Romantics.
Tramps! explores the evolution from squatted communes in the 1960s, to 70s punk, leading to the flamboyant Blitz Kids and the seminal New Romantics in the 80s. The film takes us to the places, from The Blitz to Hell and introduces the faces, from the hugely influential Leigh Bowery, Mark Moore, Derek Jarman, Boy George, Marilyn, Steve Strange and Rusty Egan to the lesser-known but integral players in the movement. Figures such as John Maybury, Duggie Fields, Princess Julia, BodyMap founders Stevie Stewart and David Holah, Scarlett Cannon, The Roxy nightclub founders Susan Carrington and Andrew Czezowski, Les Child, Jeffrey Hinton and the great, late Judy Blame, tell their fascinating tales in brand-new interviews, alongside rarely seen archive footage and proudly highlights LGBTQIA+ stories often erased from history.
The documentary examines how the long-established sense of hedonism was unexpectedly disrupted by the AIDS crisis, with some elements transitioning from the underground to dominate the mainstream through rave culture in the 1990s.
Focusing on the vibrant personalities that defined this movement and celebrating queer club culture, Tramps! revives one of the UK’s most iconic scenes and features a pulsating electronic soundtrack by Electrelane's Verity Susman and Wire's Matt Simms.
Meet Tramps! a one-of-a-kind documentary that celebrates the people and places at the forefront of a pivotal subculture whose influence can still be seen the world over today.
UK digital release 11th December from Bohemia Media