Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child

Directed by Tamra Davis

Website: jean-michelbasquiattheradiantchild.com
Facebook: facebook.com
Twitter: twitter.com/BasquiatDoc
Trailer: trailers.apple.com

Synopsis: Centered on a rare interview that director and friend Tamra Davis shot with Basquiat over twenty years ago, this definitive documentary chronicles the meteoric rise and fall of the young artist. In the crime-ridden NYC of the 1970s, he covers the city with the graffiti tag SAMO. The artist was 25 years old at the height of his career, and today his canvases sell for more than a million dollars. With compassion and psychological insight, Tamra Davis details the mysteries that surround this charismatic young man, an artist of enormous talent whose fortunes mirrored the rollercoaster quality of the downtown scene he seemed to embody. Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child features interviews with Julian Schnabel, Larry Gagosian, Bruno Bischofberger, Tony Shafrazi, Fab 5 Freddy, Jeffrey Deitch, Glenn O’Brien, Maripol, Kai Eric, Nicholas Taylor, Fred Hoffmann, Michael Holman, Diego Cortez, Annina Nosei, Suzanne Mallouk, Rene Ricard, Kenny Scharf, among many others.

Film Presence worked closely with Arthouse Films to reach the incredibly diverse audience that is touched and inspired by Basquiat’s work. By partnering with museums, schools, and retailers with interests in the arts, such as bike shops and niche sneaker stores in New York, Film Presence provided a full-scale marketing and outreach campaign for Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child, which opened at the Film Forum on July 21st, with select cities to follow.