In Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010), camera-happy French shopkeeper Thierry Guetta takes you deeper and deeper into the elusive world of street artists, capturing the transient graffiti art on film before it is erased from public memory. In the process, we meet infamous graffiti artists like Shephard Fairey, Invader, and Banksy — Britain’s most-wanted street artist. The film will have you questioning: What makes art art? How do you evaluate its authenticity? Is this film even authentic? And of course, who is this Banksy character?

Watch the trailer below:

Although it was absolutely loved by nearly everyone who saw it, Exit Through the Gift Shop came home empty in the Oscars’ Documentary category. It could be because there were other phenomenal films in the running. Though the more likely reason is that it was disqualified from any real candidacy by virtue of its genre: comedy.

History confirms that most films that make you laugh won’t win an Oscar. The Best Picture category hasn’t seen a romantic comedy win since Shakespeare In Love (1998) or a traditional comedy win since Annie Hall (1977).

If you’ve seen, Gift Shop, loved it, and still can’t get enough, here’s more artwork by Banksy , including a Pulp Fiction parody and a video of his crew at work in Palestine:

3 COMMENTS

  1. I don’t leave a comment, however I browsed some comments on ‘Exit Through the Gift
    Shop’ & The Oscar Drought for Comedy Films | FilmClique. I do have a couple of questions for you if you tend not to mind. Could it be only me or does it seem like some of the remarks appear as if they are coming from brain dead folks? 😛 And, if you are posting on other places, I would like to keep up with everything new you have to post. Could you make a list of the complete urls of your shared pages like your linkedin profile, Facebook page or twitter feed?

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