by Andrew Frisicano

Died Young, Stayed Pretty...

Exploring the outer edges of design, this candid documentary delves into the underground world of indie rock posters, where outsider artists pick through the dregs of America's schizophrenic culture and piece them back together into arresting images. In posters for groups like Arcade Fire, Radiohead, Sonic Youth and more, these bareknuckle aesthetic brawlers publicly argue the merits of octopus imagery and hairy '70s porn stars with a visual language that's all their own-strikingly obscene, unflinchingly blasphemous and often quite beautiful.

Died Young, Stayed Pretty's NYC premiere is tonight (July 17th) at IFC Center, where it runs into the week. The 9:35pm screening will be "followed by a discussion with filmmaker Eileen Yaghoobian and design gurus Julie Lasky and Robert Newman." Yaghoobian will be doing Q&As at the film's 9:35pm showings through Wednesday, July 22nd.

For the premiere, there's an afterparty/concert at 92YTribeca with the classic-rock-styled BM Linx and Iranian rock band Hypernova.

While rock-show posters may not seem like the most engaging subject for a feature length film, the trailer really sells the idea of their weird, isolated subculture well. Check it out, with the schedule for showings in other cities, below...

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