Beth B

American experimental film director, producer, screenwriter and crossdisciplinary artist (b. 14 April 1955, New York City). Beth B came to prominence in the late 1970s and early 80s with innovative "no budget" Super8 films created in collaboration with her husband, Scott Billingsley. They worked as Beth B & Scott B duo, associated with the "No Wave" and "Cinema of Transgression" movements. After Beth B and Scott dissolved their partnership in the mid-1980s, she continued working solo, producing several feature-length movies, numerous shorts and award-winning documentary TV series. Involved in painting, sculpture, photography, theatrical and multimedia installations, Beth had her artwork exhibited at Whitney Museum Of American Art, MoMA, Tate Modern and other prestigious museums. In 2021, Kino Lorber acquired Beth B's complete film catalog to restore and re-release it. Besides filmmaking, she has taught at the School of Visual Arts, NYC and Montclair State University. Beth B is the daughter of a renowned painter Ida Applebroog (b. 1929) and collaborated with her mother on two films. Beth received her BFA from the School of Visual Arts, NYC in 1977 and soon began creating art installations and making controversial low-fi "punk bohemia" movies. They organized regular film screenings with Scott B at various New York music clubs and venues, such as Max's Kansas City, CBGB or Mudd Club, New York. The duo's most acclaimed film, a dark "noir" thriller Vortex starring Lydia Lunch with James Russo (2), premiered in September 1982 at the New York Film Festival. Soon afterward, Beth separated from Scott. In 1987, Beth B premiered her solo directorial debut at Berlin Film Festival, Salvation! comedy starring Viggo Mortensen and Exene Cervenka. She continued directing shorts and appeared as a member of Sundance Film Festival's dramatic jury in 1992. Beth's second feature-length solo film, Two Small Bodies with Suzy Amis in one of the leading roles, came out in 1994. Between 2000 and 2008, Beth B produced and directed various TV and educational documentaries and docudramas for HBO, ZDF, ARTE France, Sundance Channel, PBS and other renowned broadcasters. In 2016, Beth B presented a feature-length documentary, Call Her Applebroog, distributed by Zeitgeist Films and focused on the life and work of her mother. She directed another documentary biopic, Lydia Lunch: The War Is Never Over, about the iconic musician and performer Lydia Lunch, screened in 2019 at New York's DOC Film Festival and Internationaal Filmfestival Rotterdam.