Banksy Film Rocks Sundance

Partially an insider look at guerrilla art, partially a satire of the art world, Banksy’s film-within-a-film is impossible to categorize—but it’s definitely one of the hottest movies at Sundance. Fans lined up in 15-degree weather for the slim chance of getting into the nightclub-like screening of Exit Through the Gift Shop, attended by such celebrities as Jared Leto and Adrian Grenier. Meanwhile, the mysterious auteur left at least 10 of his signature pieces of graffiti art throughout Park City and Salt Lake City.

Gift Shop began as a film about street art shot by Thierry Guetta, who assists and films Banksy (from behind, or shadowed) as he produces guerrilla art throughout Los Angeles and England—but the “cinematically schizophrenic” piece that resulted led Banksy to conclude, “perhaps Guetta isn’t really a filmmaker but ‘maybe just someone with mental problems who happened to have a camera,’” write John Horn and Chris Lee in the Los Angeles Times. Banksy’s recut version of the footage is the documentary currently taking Sundance by storm.
(More Banksy stories.)