Category: Films

2023, Exhibitions, Films

Lost BBC interview surfaces from the Turf War show. 21 November 2023

by banksyunofficial

As reported by BBC on 21 November:

The artist – at the time in his 20s – was interviewed by Mr Wrench, a former BBC arts correspondent, in the summer of 2003 to mark the opening of Banksy’s Turf War show in east London. An edited version was aired that July on the BBC’s PM programme. However, not all of the material was used. Many years later, Mr Wrench was listening to The Banksy Story podcast, and this prompted him to recover the full interview on a minidisc in his house.

The never-heard-before interview includes Banksy’s thoughts on his own art, on Charles Saatchi and many other issues. You can listen to it here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0gtsw3k

The full BBC series “The Banksy Story” can be found here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/m001nwhs

There is little doubt that the person interviewed by BBC Radio is the same guy with a Bristol accent who was interviewed on camera by ITV reporter Haig Gordon before the opening of Turf War in July 2003 in London:

ITV’s Haig Gordon interviewed Banksy at the Turf War exhibition, July 2003.

Banksy’s unaltered voice in the two interviews above is strikingly similar to the voice of the person presented as Banksy in another BBC interview three years earlier at the Severnshed exhibition in February 2000:

BBC Bristol interviewed Banksy at the Severnshed exhibition, February 2000.

This line of thought in the “Who is Banksy?” mystery is supported by some photographs in Steve Lazarides’ book Captured from 2019, especially one on page 154 depicting a Banksy consistent with the alleged Banksy in the resuscitated ITV interview. Whether this person is “one of the Banksys” or “the Banksy” will never be known. The puzzle is part of the overall artistic expression, in which we all play a role.

As Steve Lazarides put it in an interview for the French documentary Most wanted from 2019:

  • “You will never be able to know who Banksy is. At least 50 to 60% of my time was spent trying to keep him anonymous.” 
  • “How?” asked the reporter.
  • “We did all sorts of things; we did fake news stories; we were way ahead of Donald Trump on the fake news. Part of it was putting out fake news stories; I put the website in my name; and lots of other things I’m not going to tell you.”
2023, Films, Palestine, The Walled Off Hotel

Roger Waters of Pink Floyd co-produces new documentary on Walled Off Hotel and the Palestine situation. 21 April 2023

by banksyunofficial

As reported by CNN on 21 April 2023:

“A group of celebrity activists are trying to destigmatize being Palestinian, telling the human stories of an oppressed nation in a new documentary. The documentary “Walled Off,” takes its title from a hotel owned by anonymous British street artist Banksy in the biblical city of Bethlehem. Located a few steps from Israel’s imposing separation barrier that runs through the occupied West Bank, it bills itself as the hotel with the “worst view in the world.”

Inside, the walls are decorated with Banksy’s artwork depicting satirical views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It also has a museum dedicated to informing visitors about the separation wall and providing historical context on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  It is that use of art to tell the story of a people struggling for freedom that inspired the star-studded team to make the documentary, they tell CNN.

Film director and producer Vin Arfuso joined forces with model and musician Anwar Hadid, Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters, and Kweku Mandela, the grandson of former South African President Nelson Mandela, to tell the story of what it’s like living under Israeli occupation.  Waters has been a years-long advocate for Palestinian rights but has stirred controversy at times, with some critics accusing him of antisemitism. He has rejected that, saying his antipathy is toward Israel’s government, not the Jewish people.  The film cuts between scenes from the hotel and historical footage of the decades-long conflict, detailing events the filmmakers say have been misrepresented by the media.”

The CNN feature on the documentary: https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/banksy-hotel-palestinian-documentary-mime-intl/index.html

The trailer to the film can seen here: https://www.walledoff.org

2021, Bristol, Films, Street Art

Banksy paints rat on the set of The Outlaws. 10 November 2021

by banksyunofficial

“We can confirm that the artwork at the end of The Outlaws was an original Banksy, and that Christopher Walken painted over that artwork during the filming of this scene, ultimately destroying it,” a spokesperson for the BBC said. The show is written and directed by Bristolian comedian Stephen Merchant and is filmed in Bristol.

From BBC’s website:

“The Outlaws, written and directed by Stephen Merchant, stars Hollywood veteran Walken as one of a group of minor criminals refurbishing a building for their community service. The last episode sees his character uncover the Banksy rat and two spray cans behind some wooden boards, and ask his supervisor if he should paint over it. The probation officer is looking the other way so doesn’t realise it’s a Banksy and tells him all graffiti must be painted over, which he does.” https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-59236187

2017, Films, Palestine, The Walled Off Hotel

BBC to screen documentary on the “making of” Alternativity. 13 December 2017

by banksyunofficial

The documentary about the performance will be screened on BBC Two on Sunday, 17 December at 9 p.m. and is said to follow Boyle overcoming the “many restrictions” to find a cast, crew, and local children and put together the show in six weeks. The performance took place on 3 December and was co-directed by Bethlehem-based Riham Isaac.

Banksy created a promotional image for the documentary showing a drone watching over the nativity scene. (Source: BBC)

20171213 - Original - Poster - Alternativity on BBC - banksyweb.jpeg

Photo: BBC

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You can watch the documentary here:

2011, Films, UK

Banksy directs another documentary; The Antics Roadshow. August 2011

by banksyunofficial

Channel 4 aired a documentary produced by Paranoid Pictures on civil disobedience, performance street art, and ambitious pranks. Banksy wrote and directed together with Jaimie D’Cruz, who also directed Exit Through the Gift Shop. Absolutely brilliant.

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On the same note, in October 2011, Banksy showed his support for the Occupy London movement by installing a new piece at St. Paul’s Cathedral. The sculpture consists of a modified Monopoly board with the hotel covered in graffiti, including a TOX tag and an unshaven Monopoly mascot begging for change with his top hat.

2011:10:25 - London - SA:Instalation - Occupy London - Arrested Motion.jpg

Photo: http://www.arrestedmotion.com

2010, Films

The Simpsons. October 2010.

by banksyunofficial

As reported by Simpsons Wiki (https://simpsonswiki.com/wiki/Banksy_couch_gag):

Banksy is credited with creating the opening titles and couch gag for this episode, in what amounted to the first time that an artist has been invited to storyboard the show. Executive producer Al Jean first took note of Banksy after seeing his 2010 film Exit Through the Gift Shop. According to Jean, “The concept in my mind was, ‘What if this graffiti artist came in and tagged our main titles?'” 

Simpsons casting director Bonnie Pietila was able to contact the artist through the film’s producers, and asked if he would be interested in writing a main title for the show. Jean said Banksy “sent back boards for pretty much what you saw.” Series creator Matt Groening gave the idea his blessing, and helped try to make the sequence as close to Banksy’s original storyboards as possible. Fox’s standards and practices department demanded a handful of changes, but, according to Jean, “95 percent of it is just the way he wanted.”

Banksy told The Guardian that his opening sequence was influenced by The Simpsons long-running use of animation studios in Seoul, South Korea. The newspaper also reported that the creation of the sequence “is said to have been one of the most closely guarded secrets in US television – comparable to the concealment of Banksy’s own identity.”

Response

BBC News reported that “According to [Banksy], his storyboard led to delays, disputes over broadcast standards and a threatened walk out by the animation department.” However, Al Jean disputed this, saying ” [The animation department] didn’t walk out. Obviously they didn’t. We’ve depicted the conditions in a fanciful light before.” Commenting on hiring Banksy to create the titles, Jean joked, “This is what you get when you outsource.” Although conceding to the fact that The Simpsons is largely animated in South Korea, Jean went on to state that the scenes shown in titles are “very fanciful, far-fetched. None of the things he depicts are true. That statement should be self-evident, but I will emphatically state it.”

Colby Hall of Mediaite called the sequence “a jaw-dropping critique of global corporate licensing, worker exploitation and over-the-top dreariness of how western media companies (in this case, 20th Century Fox) takes advantage of outsourced labor in developing countries.” Melissa Bell of The Washington Post felt Banksy’s titles had helped revive The Simpsons’ “edge”, but after “the jarring opening, the show went back to its regular routine of guest cameos, self-referential jokes and tangential story lines.” Marlow Riley of MTV wrote “as satire, [the opening is] a bit over-the-top. What is shocking is that Fox ran Banksy’s ballsy critique of outsourcing, The Simpsons, and the standards and human rights conditions that people in first world nations accept. It’s uncomfortable and dark, and not what’s expected from the modern Simpsons, which mainly consists of ‘Homer hurts himself’ jokes.”

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Banksy published a clip from the Simpsons on his Youtube-channel Banksyfilm:

2010, Films, USA

Exit Through the Gift Shop at Sundance film festival. January 2010

by banksyunofficial

The film premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival on 24 January 2010 and was later nominated to the Oscars and the BAFTAs for Best Documentary Feature. The synopsis was described the following way on the official website:

“This is the inside story of Street Art – a brutal and revealing account of what happens when fame, money and vandalism collide. Exit Through the Gift Shop follows an eccentric shop-keeper turned amateur film-maker as he attempts to capture many of the world’s most infamous vandals on camera, only to have a British stencil artist named Banksy turn the camcorder back on its owner with wildly unexpected results.  One of the most provocative films about art ever made, Exit Through the Gift Shop is a fascinating study  of low-level criminality, comradeship and incompetence.  By turns shocking, hilarious and absurd, this is an  enthralling modern-day fairytale… with bolt cutters.”

Screenshots from http://www.banksyfilm.com (now defunct), which appeared as a submenu on http://www.banksy.co.uk:

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The official trailer to Exit Through the Gift Shop: