Studio 54

It’s impossible to recall late 70s New York without recalling Studio 54, the legendary Manhattan night spot where celebrities, socialites, the straight, the queer and the beautiful danced, drank, perhaps got high and, most importantly, were seen. It was the epicentre of 70s hedonism: a place that not only redefined the nightclub, but also came to symbolise an entire era. Its 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: they became the kings of Manhattan, and then lost it all. Now, 39 years after the velvet rope was first stretched across the club’s hallowed threshold, a feature documentary tells the real story behind the greatest club of all time.

Introduction by Olav Osolin