Doors 7:00p
Program 7:30p
Tickets $12

UnionDocs
352 Onderdonk Ave
Ridgewood, NY

We’re thrilled to host the New York premiere of Muscle Beach, a lyrical, kinetic, and darkly comic journey into the heart of the American weird from filmmaker Jacob Hurwitz-Goodman. 

Moving uncannily between documentary and dramatic neo-noir, the film centers on weightlifting influencer Ike Catcher who plays Abe, a fictional version of himself, a bodybuilder in search of his missing best friend. 

Over the course of a day, Abe finds himself pulled into a paranoid journey of tainted supplements, supernatural conspiracies, and naked greed, set against the sun-bleached streets and back-alleys of Venice Beach – the last true vestige of the American carnival. 

The film stars breakout talent Lindsey Normington (Anora, Hacks, The Idol), two-time Mr. Vienna and ‘King of Muscle Beach’ Ike Catcher, and 90’s cult movie icon, Kirk Baltz (a.k.a. the guy who got his ear cut off in Reservoir Dogs).

We’ll share a short documentary that Hurwitz-Goodman shot at Muscle Beach a decade ago to precede the film. We hope you’ll come through to experience Muscle Beach across these two works with us, as we’re absolutely *pumped* to welcome Jacob Hurwitz-Goodman to dig into his film with us following the screening. See you there!

Program

Muscle Beach by Jacob Hurwitz-Goodman

93 mins, 2026

After soaring high and flaming out in Hollywood, Abe, a celebrated bodybuilder, returns home across the 405 to Venice Beach, where it all started. But Abe’s beloved boardwalk feels different. There’s a nasty bite to the sea breeze, a slew of unexplained overdoses putting the gym rats on edge, strange supernatural sightings on the pier hinting at something primordial lurking beneath the surface of sun-dappled Venice. And Jay—his old lifting partner, his former roommate, the one person he truly abandoned in his pursuit of fame—has disappeared, leaving Alice, his ex, alone to take care of their infant son.

Throughout an increasingly desperate afternoon, Abe searches for his old friend, navigating an odyssey of local characters, and unearthing a subterranean war for the soul of this sparkling, seedy strip of waterfront, sitting on some of the most valuable real estate in the hemisphere.

The Defenders of Muscle Beach by Jacob Hurwitz-Goodman

6 mins, 2016

Originally called the Santa Monica Beach Playground, California’s Muscle Beach was a soft landing pad for gymnasts and circus and vaudeville performers looking for a place to practice in the 1930s. To employ people during the Great Depression, the US government funded the construction of a platform for tumbling, parallel bars, and rings. Enterprising acrobats—male and female—entertained the masses during those bleak times.

Bodybuilders and fitness gurus eventually joined the fun in the sun. Joe Gold, founder of Gold’s Gym, launched his career at Muscle Beach, and, before television made him famous, Jack LaLanne wowed beach audiences by performing 1,000 pushups in a row.

The spectacle was over after a scandal erupted in 1958. Santa Monica dismantled the beachside gym and bodybuilders moved a few kilometers south to what became Muscle Beach Venice. It’s the beach that vaulted a young Austrian bodybuilder, Arnold Schwarzenegger, into the celebrity stratosphere. And today, it’s where the Defenders of Muscle Beach perform feats of strength, dwarfed only by the power of the waves lapping their oceanside gym.

Program Duration: 99 mins

Bios

Jacob Hurwitz-Goodman is a Detroit-born, Los Angeles-based filmmaker. His films, music videos, and documentaries tease out the hidden strands, characters, and ideologies coursing through tech, economics, politics, emergent AI, and obscure subcultures. His eclectic, intimate work has been featured at the Athens Biennale, New York Times OpDocs, BBC, PAF, NPCC Fest, San Francisco’s DeYoung Museum, PBS, Atlas Obscura, NBC Left Field, CPH:DOX, and in museums and festivals globally. His films have won an Edes Award for Emerging Artists and an Emmy.

Joshua Citarella is an artist and writer. He is the founder of Do Not Research. He is the host of Doomscroll, a talk show that explores online culture and politics in the 21st century.