Very few street artists make headlines as often as Banksy, which is even more impressive given the fact that very few people know who he is. The elusive artist has been using the world as his canvas for many years now, but some would argue that his career peaked last October with the completion of his month-long street art residency in New York, "Better Out Than In."
The residency inspired lots of street art thinkpieces, a new book from Carnage NYC, titled Banksy in New York, and now a documentary film, titled Banksy Does New York, from director Chris Moukarbel. A press release for the film explains that Mourkarbel used his own as well as crowd-sourced footage, capturing the public's reaction to Banksy's residency. It will be interesting to see how the information is presented and what it says about (in the press release's words) "the broader implications of thrusting street art into the spotlight and far beyond the art world."
As far as we can tell, this is not the same film that Banksy himself posted about back in June. Check out the trailer for that project below, and check back at a later date for more about Moukarbel's film.
UPDATE - 8/29/2014: There is now a release date for the film—November 17. The president of HBO, Sheila Nevins, released this statement about the film:
“From the moment Banksy took over the streets, New Yorkers became obsessed. The film captures this month of madness created by user-generated footage.”
Additionally, Chris Moukarbel says, "I crowd-sourced footage that New Yorkers posted online each day of the month. It was about a city holding a mirror back up to the artist."
It will be interesting to see how this film turns out with footage from so many sources. Stay tuned for more details.
[via HollywoodReporter / MassAppeal]
