The Gits
D: Kerri O’Kane
Back in the early Nineties, when the Seattle scene was exploding, a little-known but much-loved punk outfit was poised to assume the national spotlight alongside fellow Emerald City bands like Nirvana. But on the night of July 7, 1993, the Gits’ trajectory was halted midascendancy with the brutal rape and murder of singer Mia Zapata. This documentary is a loving document of the band’s story, from its inception at Antioch College in the Eighties to the aftermath of Zapata’s death, which shook the Seattle punk scene so profoundly as to effect the breakup of bands and the formation of a still-thriving women’s self-defense center. O’Kane deftly navigates the tension that arises between the end of a career and the loss of a human being, balancing ample concert footage with the powerful tape of the jury’s findings in the conviction of Zapata’s killer, caught 10 years after his gruesome act.
4:30m, Austin Convention Center
This article appears in March 16 • 2007.