Banksy’s New Direction
Banksy the elusive British graffiti artist has expanded into films. His first foray into this genre is a film which made it’s debut at the Sundance Film Festival. “Exit through the Gift Shop” is a story of how an eccentric LA-based French vintage clothes shop keeper turned documentary maker attempts to locate and befriend Banksy, only to have the artist turn the camera back on him.
Banksy has described the film as “the story of how one man set out to film the un-filmable. And failed. “Trying to make a movie [that] truly conveys the raw thrill and expressive power of art is very difficult. So we haven’t bothered. Instead, this is simply an everyday tale of life, longing and mindless vandalism. Everything is true, especially the bit where we all lie.”
John Cooper, Director of the Sundance Festival said “Exit through the Gift Shop 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,” “The story is so bizarre I began to question if it could even be real… but in the end I didn’t care. I feel bad I won’t be able to shake the film-maker’s hand and tell him how much I love this film. I think I will shake everyone’s hand that day and hope I hit on Banksy somewhere. I love his work in all forms.” (Courtesy of the Telegraph.)
