Studio 54 (2018, U.S.A.)

From 1977 to 1980, the nightclub Studio 54 was the hottest place in Manhattan.  It was a haven of hedonism, tolerance, glitz and glamor.  Studio was very hard to gain entrance to and impossible to ignore.  Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager, two college friends from Brooklyn, succeeded in creating the ultimate escapist fantasy in the heart of the theatre district. Rubell wanted to be everybody’s friend and was photographed with every celebrity who entered the club.  On the other hand Schrager was the behind-the-scenes creative mastermind who shunned the limelight.

Studio 54 was an instant success and a cash cow, but the drug-and-sex-fueled dream soon imploded in financial scandal and the club’s demise. Schrager tells the whole unvarnished story for the first time, and the documentary features a treasure-trove of rare footage. This is a vivid, glorious portrait of a disco-era phenomenon.  But above all, it tells the story of two friends who stuck together through an incredible series of highs and lows.