It’s official Banksy’s film, Exit Through The Gift Shop, has been nominated for an Academy Award as well as a Bafta. The Bristol street artist’s first film has been nominated in the Best Documentary Feature category for the Oscars which will take place in Hollywood in February. The Academy is already considering what do in the likely event that the ‘reclusive’ artist fails to show up to collect the award should he win. The film was placed on the long-list, for an Oscar in the category of, Best Documentary Film and has now made it onto the final 5.
The film has also been critically acclaimed on both sides of the Atlantic. Narrated by Welsh Actor, Rhys Ifans, it is really more about the French/American Graffiti Artist/Fan Thierry Guetta. It is an engaging and extremely watchable film. Earlier this year the film received the Grierson documentary award. The film, premiered at the Sundance film festival last year and was described by the artist as “the story of how one man set out to film the unfilmable – and failed”. It tells the story of a Los Angeles T-shirt printer and Gorilla film maker called, Thierry Guetta who becomes obsessed with street art and attempts to make a film about it, only to have Banksy, on seeing the catastrophic results, turn the camera on Guetta. Guetta also known as Mr Brainwash is a real-life character that began his career as a filmmaker, documenting the emerging graffiti art scene in LA. The Lost Angeles Times described it as “subversive, provocative and unexpected. A hall of mirrors as unsettling as anything Lewis Carroll’s Alice ever experienced”.I honestly believe that TTGS stands a good Oscar chance however, Four Lions by Chris Morris looks set to take the Bafta.
Oscar List – Best Documentary Feature Film
Exit Through the Gift Shop
Gasland
Inside Job
Restrepo
Waste Land
Bafta List – Outstanding debut by a British writer, director or producer
The Arbor – Clio Bernard (director), Tracy O’Riordan (producer)
Exit Through The Gift Shop – Banksy (director), Jaimie D’Cruz (producer)
Four Lions – Chris Morris (director/writer)
Monster – Gareth Edwards (director/writer)
Skeletons – Nick Whitfield (director/Writer)