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Legendary American artist Jean Michel Basquiat who died in 1988 at age 27 was a 19-year old painter, graffiti artist, poet and musician when he played the lead in DOWNTOWN 81. Basquiat was one of the most interesting and lively artists of the twentieth century, captured here as he was poised for fame during one of the most exciting periods in American culture, with the emergence of new wave music, new painting, hip hop and graffiti art.
A bizarre urban fantasy, the film depicts a day in the life of a young artist as he tries to survive on the fringes of the New York art scene.
DOWNTOWN 81 was shot in 1980-81, directed by photographer Edo Bertoglio, written by Glenn O'Brien and produced by Maripol Fauque. Due to financial problems the film was abandoned in the mid-'80s but resurrected after some missing materials were located in Europe in 1998. Selected for Director's Fortnight at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival the film went on to be screened around the world, opening in downtown New York on July 13 2001.
The cast includes Deborah Harry, and leading bands of the era including Kid Creole and the Coconuts, James White and the Blacks, DNA, Tuxedomoon, the Plastics and Walter Steding and the Dragon People. Also heard on the soundtrack are rap legend Melle Mel, John Lurie, Lydia Lunch, Suicide, Vincent Gallo, Kenny Burrell and Basquiat's own band, Gray.
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