When punk erupted in the nation’s capital in the mid to late 1970’s, it was a mighty convergence of powerful music, friendships and clear minds. The sounds and ideas that emerged from those early years of punk/hardcore-punk continue to influence and inspire around the world. Punk the Capital captures that explosive time and situates D.C. punk history within the larger narratives of punk and rock and roll.

The film takes us through the untold story of how the DC punk scene was built from the ground up despite the “hostile environment” of Washington D.C. A legendary artist’s co-op named Madams Organ looms large in the film, as a “free space” where many great punk bands got their foothold (1979-1980). Punk the Capital includes a large amount of never before seen Super 8 footage from the co-op. From the perspective of that family-sized row house, this film dives back into an array of D.C. area bands of the late 1970’s (Slickee Boys, White Boy) and looks forward into the growth of DC’s hardcore punk scene of the early 1980’s (Bad Brains, Minor Threat, Faith).