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THE SECRET LIVES OF BILL BARTELL (2025)A Documentary Film by David Markey
Showing at The Midtown Cinema (Harrisburg, Pa)
Sunday February 8, 2026
Starts @ 7pm
Admission = $12
Post Film Zoom Q&A w/ David Markey
Come join us for the brand new film from filmmaker David Markey ( 1991: The Year Punk Broke, Desperate Teenage Lovedolls)! "The Secret Lives of Bill Bartell" premiered at Slamdance in 2025 and we are honored to bring it to Harrisburg for one night only before it is released on streaming and home video. Join us for a post film Zoom Q&A on the big screen with the filmmaker live from Los Angeles!
Trailer:
BILL BARTELL is not famous but those who knew him think he should be.
Bill was a musician (White Flag/ Tater Totz) , band manager, record label owner (Gasatanka Records), police officer (Beaumont Police Department), rodeo bull rider, an attention-seeking recluse, and the ultimate fan-boy. He led an exceedingly compartmentalized life, keeping a tight lid on his background, his occupations, relationships and sexuality, hiding the jarring conflicts. The whole of his life was an enigma and maintaining it took a toll. Many of those who knew him during his 52 years of life were kept in the dark of his doings. No one knew - and still no one knows - the whole of his life.
Friend and/ or sometime bandmate of Pat Smear, Sean Lennon, Kurt Cobain, Thurston Moore, KISS, Iron Maiden, Ronnie Barnett, Jeff and Steve McDonald, Drew Barrymore, Tom Of Finland, The Melvins, Quentin Tarantino and countless others. Bill was the conduit through which many relationships were established and successful careers launched. (Shonen Knife, the 5876’s, The Muffs, Redd Kross are just a few of the bands Bill worked with and put their records out.), Through extensive archival footage and interviews, Bill’s friends and collaborators compare notes on what they knew and what Bill kept hidden from them, ruminating on the causes of his secrecy. This film unravels, reveals and ultimately, deepens the mystery of who Bill was and what secrets he took with him when his life came to a sad and unexpected close.
Featuring Os Mutantes’ Sergio Dias, Jeff & Steven McDonald, Thurston Moore, Buzz Osbourne & Dale Crover, Filmmaker Allison Anders, Zeros founding member (aka El Vez) Robert Lopez, Generation X’s Derwood Andrews, Tony B. of The Adolescents, Fat Mike (NOFX) amongst many others friends/ enemies. Collaborators and Co-conspirators!
Presented by MOVIATE - www.moviate.org
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Midtown Cinema, 263 Reily St, Harrisburg, PA 17102-2551, United States
Concerts, fests, parties, meetups - all the happenings, one place.
