Dance Party USA (film)

Plot

Apathetic 17-year-old Gus spends most of his time hanging around doing nothing with his buddy Bill. Gus likes to tell half-true stories about all the girls he has slept with and all the drugs he has done. Jessica is seventeen too. She seems not to have much in common with anyone anymore – not even her best friend Christie.

Every year Brian throws a 4th of July party. The party is never great, but there is free beer, so people always go. Gus and Jessica meet each other there. They watch fireworks outside and light sparklers. Gus says that he is not the sort of guy she thinks he is. He tells her a secret he has never told anyone before.

Production

The film took nearly two years to complete. Katz explained the reason for such as being due to the film's editor, Zach Clark, living in Virginia while he lived in Brooklyn. Clark would send edited footage on a DVD to Katz, who would then respond by sending notes to Clark.

Release

The film debuted at the 2006 South by Southwest Film Festival and subsequently played at almost a dozen other festivals around the country and a two-week exclusive run at the Pioneer Theatre in New York City.

Reception

The New York Times stated that "Dance Party USA is a remarkably delicate construction, directed with extraordinary empathy by Aaron Katz." In addition, The New York Sun placed it at number nine on their Top 10 Films of 2006 list and critic Amy Taubin lauded it in Art Forum, saying it was "in her pantheon of coming of age films."