Ciao! Manhattan

Initially filmed in 1965 “Ciao! Manhattan” was an experimental film made on a miniscule budget with a counter-culture underground tone, starring the ‘superstar’ and ‘it’ girl of the Andy Warhol Factory scene - Edie Sedgwick. Filmmakers John Palmer and David Weisman, aware that their 1960s footage did not amount to a comprehensive narrative, decided to continue filming several years later, cobbling their 1960s work together with new scenes, introducing the story of Butch - a 1970s drifter who picks up a topless and disoriented woman (Susan) hitchhiking. Delivering Susan to her eccentric mother’s mansion, Susan occupies an empty swimming pool and surrounded by Edie paraphernalia, the couple relive Susan/Edie’s heyday. Edie essentially plays herself as Susan, a beautiful rebellious heiress who models for Vogue, hangs with the famous artists and iconoclasts of her time and represents the look and mood of the silver sixties. In the seventies portion of the film she is past her prime, damaged by excessive drug intake, reliving her former glory whilst lolling around topless and occasionally making sense. As a conventional feature “Ciao! Manhattan” barely holds together, the disorderly history of its production undermining notions of a cohesive structure. But the story of Edie Sedgwick, encapsulated within the extensive footage of her at both ends of the spectrums of her life, is fascinating. Sedgwick died several months after the production completed. Cast includes: Roger Vadim, Viva, Paul America, Isabel Jewell, Brigid Berlin and Baby Jane Holzer.