Banksy (Secretly) Premieres His First Film At Sundance Film Fest

January 29, 2010 at 11:46 AM | by cmb | Comments (0)

The notorious British street artist Banksy premiered his first film, Exit Through The Gift Shop, at Sundance this week. But, true to form, he didn't allow it to be listed in the fest's catalog nor did he tell anyone about its place on the schedule until last week. This is no surprise coming from an artist who keeps his identity and whereabouts under tighter wraps than most people in the witness protection program.

The film is about street art, but it is also about Terry Guetta a.k.a Mr. Brain Wash, a successful commercial street artist. In the '90s Terry was obsessed with capturing his life on video. At the same time, he was hanging out with his cousin, the street artist Space Invader, who worked nights in France and Los Angeles covering the town with pixel aliens. Terry quickly became obsessed with street artists and, suddenly, his two passions combined. This meant for the first time someone was capturing the best graffiti artists in the world (including Banksy) working. The problem was, Terry's film sucked, even though he tried really hard, he just couldn't pull it off. This is where Banksy stepped in and decided to turn Terry's footage into Exit Through the Gift Shop.

Banksy kept the most important element of Terry's work, which was a chaotic look at the world of street art, but also incorporated Terry's story which actually makes it more fascinating. "Trying to make a movie which truly conveys the raw thrill and expressive power of art is very difficult. So I haven�t bothered,� Banksy said. �Instead this is a simple everyday tale of life, longing and mindless vandalism.� But don't expect to get a good look at Bansky in the film; there are only glimpses of the artist from behind, with his head covered by a hoodie.

Bansky's work has mysteriously shown up on buildings in his hometown of Bristol, Israel's West Bank barrier and everywhere in between. So, it wasn't a surprise when he secretly left at least 10 pieces of art on buildings throughout Park City and Salt Lake City last week in honor of his film's debut. Most of the images are still intact, so if you're walking Main Street this week and see a random flower growing out of concrete or a mouse wearing 3D glasses, don't be alarmed, it's just Banksy's way of saying, "I Was Here."

Related Stories:
· Sundance 2010: Banksy rocks festival with 'Gift Shop' [LA. Times]
· Banksy Makes His Film Debut [BBC]
· Street Art Coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Sian Elizabeth-Anne]

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