Downtown '81

This film was shot in New York across 1980 and 1981, then left unfinished for lack of money and effectively disappeared for twenty years. The story is simple: a young artist has been evicted and walks the city carrying a painting, hoping to sell it and get his apartment back. That artist is Jean-Michel Basquiat, not yet known. The people he meets and the places he passes through become a direct record of the music and art scene at its centre. One of the producers reacquired the rights, the film was completed in 1999 and released in 2000. Because the dialogue recordings were lost, Saul Williams redubbed Basquiat's voice; the music, recorded live on location, had survived. Its value as a document runs far ahead of its value as fiction. Who it's for: viewers curious about the early eighties New York scene and about Basquiat. Who it's not for: anyone wanting a constructed story and performances; the film is almost entirely a record of a moment.