Banksy film (and art) heading to Sundance
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
Sundance is getting tagged. The Utah film festival, which begins today, confirmed that it will screen a documentary about underground grafitti artist Banksy titled ‘Exit Through the Gift Shop.’
The movie, in which a French man tries to film the artist only to have the camera turned on him, will premiere on Sunday, Jan. 24.
The documentary ‘is one of those films that comes along once in a great while, a warped hybrid of reality and self -induced fiction while at the same time a totally entertaining experience,’ festival programming chief John Cooper said. ‘The story is so bizarre I began to question if it could even be real ... but in the end, I didn’t care.’
Banksy is the renowned -- and never officially photographed -- grafitti artist who has festooned spaces from the West Bank to post-Katrina New Orleans, all while keeping his identity a mystery. He has also avoided prosecution. Though sources had noted there would be a Banksy film playing Park City, the festival had not previously confirmed it. It remains an open and juicy question as to whether the artist will appear at the festival, and in what guise. Several works that are believed to be Banksy creations have popped up in Park City -- and with them, no doubt, many graffitti gawkers.
-- Steven Zeitchik
