Party Girl (1995 film)

Party Girl is a 1995 film directed by Daisy von Scherler Mayer starring Parker Posey and notable for being the first feature film to premiere on the Internet. 

Synopsis
Mary is a free-spirited party girl who spends her time dancing in clubs and throwing house parties.  After she is arrested for illegally charging attendees at an underground rave, she calls upon her godmother, Judy Lindendorf, to bail her out.  In order for Mary to repay the loan, Judy employs her as a clerk at the library where she works.  Mary reluctantly begins her new job while striking up a romance with Lebanese street vendor and aspiring teacher, Mustafa.  Though she initially has misgivings about her new line of work, she begins to learn how to deal with the Dewey Decimal System and her godmother's perception of her.  Gradually, she becomes very good at her job but she gets fired after having sex with Mustafa in the library.  With no money to pay the accumulating rent, she and her roommate Leo, a club DJ, face eviction from her apartment.  Mary sells her clothes at a vintage shop in order to get money for the rent.  

She also goes to make up with Mustafa, who she early had blown off for a date to work at the library.  During one of her parties, though, Mary has a fight with Mustafa and takes drugs to forget.  Her friend Nigel tries to take advantage of her, but she fights him off.  The next day, she decides to get her life in order and become a librarian.  Her fellow librarians help her sort out some of the areas in library sciences she could study.  She invites Judy over to talk, but when they arrive Mary discovers to her horror that her friends have thrown her a surprise birthday party, complete with a male stripper.  Mary tells a skeptical Judy that she has finally found her calling in life, and Mustafa and Leo tell Judy that Mary used her library science skills to help them with their careers.  Impressed, Judy gives Mary her job back, and joins her god-daughter in dancing with her friends. 

Cast
Parker Posey as Mary
Guillermo Díaz as Leo
Liev Schreiber as Nigel
Anthony DeSando as Derrick
Sasha von Scherler as Judy Lindendorf
 Omar Townsend as Mustafa

Music in the film
Much of the film takes place in clubs and at parties, and a supporting character is a DJ.  There are many scenes directly discussing or playing music appropriate to the mid-1990s club scene, several local performers, and most music is diegetic, being clearly played in the scene. 

Internet debut
Party Girl premiered on the Internet on June 3, 1995, transmitted from Glenn Fleishman's Point of Presence Company (POPCO).  Appearing live in the POPCO offices, Posey welcomed Internet viewers and then introduced the film.  Fleishman recalled the event:
I helped launch the first official full-length [Internet] movie premiere in 1995 in my offices in Seattle.  The film was broadcast to several hundred people worldwide over a CU-SeeMe reflector at Point of Presence Company's offices in downtown and then a few minutes, it was projected at The Egyptian in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood.  Parker Posey was in our offices to hit the start button on the broadcast.  I was one cog in a larger set of wheels that involved the Seattle International Film Festival, Film.com (now part of RealNetworks), First Look Releasing, and the film's producers, as well as another online development company and a CUSeeMe engineering consultant, Joseph Kahan who also worked at NASA down in Texas.  The launch was shown on NBC Nightly News in a five-minute segment at the bottom of the Sunday broadcast that week. 

Television spin-off

A television series based on the film was produced in 1996, starring Christine Taylor as Mary and Swoosie Kurtz as Judy.  Although six episodes were filmed, only four were aired and the show was quickly cancelled. 

Soundtrack
The Party Girl soundtrack was released June 8, 1995 by Relativity Records. 
 "Mama Told Me (Not to Come)" – The Wolfgang Press
 "Beautiful" – Tom Tom Club
 "You Don't Love Me (No, No, No)" – Dawn Penn
 "Les Ailes" – Khaled
 "I'll Keep Coming Back" – Chanelle
 "Big Apple Boogaloo" – Brooklyn Funk Essentials
 "Anyone Could Happen to Me" – Nation of Abel
 "Peter Piper" – Run–D.M.C.
 "To Be Loved" – Basscut
 "Never Take Your Place" – Mr. Fingers
 "Music Selector Is the Soul Reflector" – Deee-Lite
 "Party Girl (Turn Me Loose)" – Ultra Naté

References

External links
 

Category:1995 films
Category:1990s comedy-drama films
Category:1990s independent films
Category:American comedy-drama films
Category:American films
Category:American independent films
Category:Directorial debut films
Category:English-language films
Category:Films adapted into television programs
Category:Films directed by Daisy von Scherler Mayer
Category:Films set in New York City
Category:Films shot in New York City
Category:Films set in libraries