Loud checkerboard prints, shaggy hair and loitering in the club smoke section – Punkline captures what the cool kids of 1980 were into.

Created by Tony Stevens and Sue Davis, this 'actuality film' documents Melbourne's club and punk scene, shot at the Crystal Ballroom and Festival Hall during performances by the B-52’s, the Cure, La Femme, and the Models. Instead of training the lens on the headline acts, the filmmakers are more interested in the New Wave crowds that massed around them. Stevens' direction has an intimate and lively quality: the camera glides seamlessly among the dancers and the smokers chatting on the fringes. It peers voyeuristically at individual friend groups and faces, such as a couple making out in a secluded stairwell.

Through a gaze fully integrated into the scene, Stevens and Davis craft a tactile record of the cool fashions and trends of the time, from thrashing dance moves to club sunnies, slouchy cardigans and rainbow suspenders.

Explore more of After Dark – a Deep Dive into Australian nightlife that draws on decades of material from the NFSA collection.