Film Forum

U.S., 1986
Written and directed by Philip Hartman
Starring David Brisbin, Clare Bauman, Judith Malina, Ryan Cutrona, Anne D’Agnillo, Luis Guzmán, Richard Hell, Steve Buscemi
Produced by Doris Kornish
Cinematography by Peter Hutton
Approx. 87 min.

Philip Hartman’s priceless artifact of New York’s pre-gentrification East Village follows down-and-out jukebox operator Macabee Cohn, played with deadpan melancholy by David Brisbin, who wanders the cheap tenements, dive bars, and derelict streets of the East Village in search of a mysterious woman in a striped dress. 

NO PICNIC premiered at the 1986 Sundance Film Festival, where Peter Hutton won the Best Cinematography prize for his gorgeously evocative black-and-white imagery, working with producer Doris Kornish, Emmy Award–winning director Mike Spiller as assistant cameraman, animator Lewis Klahr as boom operator, Christine Vachon as assistant sound editor, with assistance from, among other notables, Jacob Burckhardt and Jeff Preiss. Scored by Ned Sublette, the soundtrack features The Raunch Hands, Fela Kuti, Charles Mingus and Student Teachers.

Hartman co-owned The Great Jones Cafe, which introduced Cajun cooking to downtown NYC, became a magnet for the indie film and music communities, and flourished for 35 years until its closure in 2018. Using his gumbo money, and drawing on the rich talent of the Jones community, Hartman wrote and directed NO PICNIC in the summer of ‘85. Wim Wenders' company, Grey City, came aboard as executive producer and the film was accepted to Sundance, but still needing $25k to finish post-production, Hartman co-founded Two Boots Pizzeria on Avenue A, now a beloved New York institution. He would also go on to make EERIE (1995), a feature starring Felicity Huffman & Will Arnett.

A FILM DESK RELEASE

FREE PIZZA OFFER!
Show your NO PICNIC ticket stub or ticket purchase confirmation email at any Manhattan Two Boots location and get a FREE SLICE OF CHEESE PIZZA during our run, April 17 – 23 only.

Trailer

Reviews

“... One movie about the East Village that gets it right… A swan song to a languishing New York tribe.”
– Manohla Dargis, Village Voice

“... For thirty years now, Peter Hutton has been building a radical and singular body of work. A sort of primitive documentary, silent, which celebrates the beauty of the world without forgetting to observe people, the conditions they live and work under...”
– Cahiers du Cinéma

“We do see a gritty, vibrant Lower East Side that seems just on the verge of being downgraded from a neighborhood to a disaster area. White-haired women stare out their windows, garbage cans overflow and children on tricycles race through a street fair while pimps and prostitutes wander the streets...the rich backdrop to his life is the film's truest and best subject.”
– Caryn James, The New York Times

“A priceless artifact...gorgeously evocative...”
–  Museum of Modern Art

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