Studio 54

For 33 months between 1978 and 1980, the nightclub Studio 54 was the place to be seen in Manhattan. A haven of hedonism and tolerance, glitz and glamor, the nightclub and its activities filled the gossip columns daily. Two college friends, Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager, succeeded in creating the ultimate escapist fantasy in the heart of the theater district, but the drug-and-sex-fueled dream soon imploded in financial scandal. With unprecedented access to lifestyle-hotel genius Schrager, who tells the whole unvarnished story for the first time, and a treasure trove of rare and captivating footage, Studio 54 constructs a vivid, glorious portrait of the disco era at its very epicenter. (98 mins., DCP)