Relax Be Cruel

Filmed in 1983, Relax Be Cruel is the story of a punk girl who spends a summer squatting at Pier 34—an abandoned industrial building that became a legendary site of cruising and artistic experimentation in New York’s Downtown art scene.

The film follows her fleeting encounters with other characters. Through her eyes, we witness anonymous sexual moments and performances unfolding within the pier’s vast, crumbling spaces. Black-and-white cinematography accentuates its stark corridors, shifting light, and the ever-present lull of the Hudson River. “It’s like being on the edge of the world,” she says, observing bodies, sculptures, and painted figures that breathe within the space.

The pier was destroyed in 1984, and in the years that followed, much of the queer community’s freedom was overshadowed by the AIDS crisis. The original negatives of the film were also lost, leaving it unfinished and unseen until 2023, when Scemama created a new edit from outtakes, unused rushes, and surviving sound material. The result is a vivid and lyrical work that evokes the spirit of an extraordinary place and time.

~ Christina Demetriou