Exit Through The Giftshop
The story of how an eccentric French shop keeper and amateur film maker
attempted to locate and befriend Banksy, only to have the artist turn
the camera back on its owner. The film contains footage of Banksy,
Shephard Fairey, Invader and many of the world's most infamous graffiti
artists at work.
Written by
Sundance Film Festival
Banksy is a graffiti artist with a global reputation whose work can be
seen on walls from post-hurricane New Orleans to the separation barrier
on the Palestinian West Bank. He fiercely guards his anonymity to avoid
prosecution. An eccentric French shop keeper turned documentary maker
attempts to locate and befriend Banksy, only to have the artist turn the
camera back on its owner. Includes footage of Banksy, Shepard Fairey,
Invader and many of the world's most infamous graffiti artists at work,
on walls and in interview. As Banksy describes it, "It's basically the
story of how one man set out to film the un-filmable. And failed."
Los Angeles based Frenchman Thierry Guetta
gets the idea that he would like to film street artists in the process
of creating their work. He tells them that he is making a documentary,
when in reality he has no intention of editing the footage into one
cohesive movie. Unaware of this latter fact, many street artists from
around the world agree to participate. Thierry even gets into the act by
assisting them in creating the art. One of the artists that
participates is the camera-shy Brit Banksy,
who refuses to be shown on screen unless he is blacked out. Banksy does
convince Thierry to use the footage to make a movie. In Thierry doing
so, Banksy comes to the realization that Thierry is a lousy filmmaker,
but he is an interesting character in an odd yet appealing way. So
Banksy decides to use the footage and add additional material to make
his own movie about Thierry's journey in this project. Since Thierry
spent so much time involved in the process of street art, Banksy also
convinces Thierry to become a street artist himself. Thierry reinvents
himself as street artist MBW, an acronym for "Mr. Brainwash". Banksy, in
the end, may regret this suggestion
