
Quotations From a Ruined City
1993-09-10 · 86 min · Not rated
Quotations From a Ruined City was first performed as a workshop production for the Los Angeles Festival in a former shoe store on Hollywood Boulevard. The production subsequently moved to a vacant pajama factory in New York's meatpacking district and went on to be presented by multiple European presenters. It was Abdoh's final work. "Quotations from a Ruined City is a sort of apocalyptic follies: an evening of song, dance, poetry, nudity and torture set in a world whose center has clearly long ceased to hold. Created and directed by the gifted young theatrical cult artist Reza Abdoh, the work is a kaleidoscopic catalogue of images of decay and destruction that range through the centuries and around the globe."--New York Times, 1994.
Trailers are previews, not full movies.
No authorized playback source configured. Use the legal watch options below.
Production details
- Directors
- Reza Abdoh
- Production companies
- Dar a Luz
- Countries
- United States of America
- Status
- Released
Top Cast
Sabrina Artel
Tom Fitzpatrick
Tony TornTitle information and images are supplied by TMDb. Explore our discovery guide for advice on comparing metadata and legal viewing options.
Where to watch
Availability provided by JustWatch via TMDb. Offers can change. Provider links are listed on TMDb; full playback requires a separately authorized source.
Availability not listed for this country.
Seasons & episodes
Recommendations

A drama set in the American South, where a precocious, troubled girl finds a safe haven in the music and movement of Elvis Presley.

94-year-old Eleanor Morgenstein tries to rebuild her life after the death of her best friend. As a result, she moves back to New York City after living in Florida for decades.

Middle-aged widow Beatrice Hunsdorfer and her daughters Ruth and Matilda are struggling to survive in a society they barely understand. Beatrice dreams of opening an elegant tea room but does not have the wherewithal to achieve her lofty goal. Epileptic Ruth is a rebellious adolescent, while shy but highly intelligent and idealistic Matilda seeks solace in her pets and school projects, including one designed to show how small amounts of radium affect marigolds.

Evangelist Carlton Pearson is ostracized by his church for preaching that there is no Hell.

An uninterrupted rehearsal of Chekhov's 'Uncle Vanya' plays out by a company of actors. The setting: their run-down theater with an unusable stage and crumbling ceiling. The play is shown act by act with the briefest of breaks to move props or for refreshments. The lack of costumes, real props and scenery is soon forgotten.

Thomas Montgomery, a married father of two young daughters, gets seduced by the world of online gambling and chat rooms where a virtual romance and sexual obsession ultimately leads to the murder of an innocent man.

A pro ball player with a substance abuse problem is forced into rehab in his hometown, finding new hope when he gets honest about his checkered past, and takes on coaching duties for a misfit Little League team

In New York City, six-year-old Maisie is caught in the middle of a bitter custody battle between her self-absorbed parents—an aging rock singer mother and a distracted art dealer father. As both quickly marry new partners to strengthen their legal standing, Maisie is shuttled back and forth in an endless game of emotional point-scoring. Yet amid the chaos and upheaval, Maisie begins to find true comfort and affection in her new step-parents.

The legendary Roberto Duran and his equally legendary trainer Ray Arcel change each other's lives.

A down-on-his-luck coach is hired to prepare a team of the best American dancers for an international tournament that attracts all the best crews from around the world, but the Americans haven't won in fifteen years.

A young man with a bright future suffers a near-fatal accident and recreates his new life with the help of an unlikely animal friend.

Up-and-coming sports reporter rescues a homeless man ("Champ") only to discover that he is, in fact, a boxing legend believed to have passed away. What begins as an opportunity to resurrect Champ's story and escape the shadow of his father's success becomes a personal journey as the ambitious reporter reexamines his own life and his relationship with his family.

On the French island of Mont Saint-Michel, Jack, a failed presidential candidate, Tom, a poet and Sonia, a physicist, engage in an intellectual conversation about politics, philosophy and life over the course of a single day.

An unlikely friendship evolves over one wild night in LA between a struggling journalist and actor Hervé Villechaize, the world's most famous gun-toting dwarf, resulting in life-changing consequences for both.

As a country arms itself for war, a family tears itself apart. Forced to avenge his father's death but paralyzed by the task ahead, Hamlet rages against the impossibility of his predicament, threatening both his sanity and the security of the state.

A prisoner leads his counterparts in a protest for better living conditions which turns violent and ugly.

During the 1976 Soweto uprising, a white school teacher's life and values are threatened when he asks questions about the death of a young black boy who died in police custody.

Jonas Cord is a disagreeable young tycoon who's building planes, directing films, and catting around on the corporate make in 1930s Hollywood.

Carla Zachanassian had a child by Serge Miller as a teenager. When Serge refused to marry her, she was driven out of town. By her own wit and cunning, she has returned as a multi-millionaire for a visit. The town lays out the red carpet expecting big things from Carla, only to learn that her sole purpose is to see Serge Miller killed...

The eldest son of a ruthlessly tough MMA champion must fight his way out of the abusive cycle his father has continued.
Similar titles

A theater director struggles with his work, and the women in his life, as he attempts to create a life-size replica of New York inside a warehouse as part of his new play.

A theater actor with crippling body image insecurities must face his greatest fears when he is asked to perform nude on stage in his dream role.

A Channel Four special presentation of the Royal Court Theatre 1989 production, London. with Paul Bhattacharjee, Nabil Shaban and Fiona Victory. "Iranian Nights" was a play written and produced as a direct response by writers and artists to the notorious Feb 14 1989 Fatwa (a sentence of death) from Iran's leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, placed on Salman Rushdie for his novel "The Satanic Verses", regarded by fundamentalist Muslims as blasphemous.
This National Theatre Production was filmed for the National Theatre Archive in November 2022. ‘To be or not to be…’ Hamlet’s dad is dead. His uncle has taken over the kingdom and married Hamlet’s mum. The whole world feels like it’s turned upside down. A ghostly encounter reveals a dreadful deed has been done. Should Hamlet take revenge? ‘That is the question.’ Join us for this energetic and engaging retelling of Shakespeare’s most well-known tragedy.


Back in prison, Didrik, 33, discovers a new way of expression and happiness through theatre and acting, and starts looking back at his past and upbringing with a sadistic mom and bullying peers.

Mathan is 17 and struggles with his sexuality and his feelings for his friend François. Over a two summer period, with his friends François and Virginie, he tries to discover his desires, face homophobia and overcome the fear of not being accepted as he truly is.

In support of a friend who had to shave his head, Lila does the same. In theater class, Lila wants to play the villain Caracara, yet both the look and the role seem at odds with adult expectations. With friends by Lila’s side, a journey begins to discover a true sense of identity. As the music swells and the lights shine, Lila and the cast bring the story to life, and in that moment, the boundaries of the role and reality blur. A strong sea breeze blows, signaling the coming storm!

On the brink of turning 30, a promising theater composer navigates love, friendship and the pressure to create something great before time runs out.

"Minamata is the name of a fishing village in Japan," said the writer-director ("Peep Show," "Eva Peron," "Rusty Sat on a Hill One Dawn and Watched the Moon Go Down"), who wrote the piece with Mira-Lani Oglesby. "Chisso, a company that makes parts for plastic, dumped mercury waste into the water supply and the fishermen got sick. A high percentage of the villages depended on fish and fishing so their livelihoods dried up too. "The story of Minamata is just the departure point for the play," the writer said. "It's the ghost behind the play, the shadow over it. The piece is a meditation on beliefs, ways of thinking, how operatives in the system create a way of thinking that makes it possible to destroy life in order to improve it. There's a thesis that in order to progress you have to allow for destruction. No. You cannot buy into that way of thinking, because it's erroneous and hurtful."

A collaboration in which Robert Wilson and Heiner Müller let Molière die, imagine his death in tableaux with text passages recited by Müller himself. "Cinema watches Death at work." Wilson's actors watch Molière die: their vigil is hard work. Müller's comment: "The poem watches a dying man at work, his name is Molière. The poem is not a film. The film watches an actor playing a dying man called Molière."


Emmy winner Holland Taylor and Broadway's Ana Villafañe star as two U.S. Representatives, generations apart, who couldn't be more different. Inspired by real people and events, the play N/A is a battle of wills and wits between N, the first woman Speaker of the House, and A, the youngest woman ever elected to Congress. Filmed from Lincoln Center's Off-Broadway theater in August 2024, N/A is part of Theater Close-Up, a collaboration between THIRTEEN and New York City-area Off-Broadway and regional theaters, shining a primetime spotlight on a diverse mix of innovative theater productions. Go behind closed doors as these two formidable women debate power, ambition, and change. N/A is written by Congressional aide turned playwright Mario Correa and directed by Tony Award-winning director Diane Paulus (“Jagged Little Pill”).


For her first production, Marina Hands chose "Six Characters in Search of an Author," a play by Luigi Pirandello that premiered in Rome in 1921. A team rehearsing is interrupted by six characters in search of an author willing to write their story, which has gone from drama to drama. Luigi Pirandello had the brilliant idea of doubling the conflictual relationships within this dysfunctional family with another type of dispute: the characters rebel against the false truth of the actors and actresses playing out their story. Filmed at the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier in Paris's 6th arrondissement.

A committed dancer struggles to maintain her sanity after winning the lead role in a production of Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake."

Jin, a young woman with incurable hallucinations, joins a mysterious cult that offers her love, belonging, and the promise of miracles. As she becomes the chosen one and abandons her medication, she loses herself completely, blurring reality with illusion and ultimately remaining in the cult forever.


Theatrical adaptation of the film of the same name. In a fair and funny one-woman show, dancer Andréa Bescond recounts her tainted childhood and the consequences for her adult life. A moment of pure emotion, an unforgettable journey that touches our hearts. Odette is eight years old when Gilbert, a family “friend”, drags her into secret tickling sessions. The rest is collateral damage. The child becomes a dancer, which will save her. Misunderstanding from family and friends, difficulty building a life...
