New film explores the late teenage years of Jean-Michel Basquiat

Jean-Michel Basquiat in Boom For Real: The Late Teenage Years of Jean-Michel Nasquiat, a Magnolia Pictures release. Photo Credit: © Brock Adler. Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.

NEW YORK, NY.- Boom For Real: The Late Teenage Years of Jean-Michel Nasquiat follows Basquiat's life pre-fame and how New York City, the times, the people and the movements surrounding him formed the artist he became. Using never-before-seen works, writings and photographs, director Sara Driver, who was part of the New York arts scene herself, worked closely and collaboratively with friends and other artists who emerged from that period: Jim Jarmusch, James Nares, Fab Five Freddy, Glenn O’Brien, Kenny Scharf, Lee Quinones, Patricia Field, Luc Sante and many others. Drawing upon their memories and anecdotes, the film also uses period film footage, music and images to visually re-recreate the era, drawing a portrait of Jean-Michel and Downtown New York City -pre AIDS, President Reagan, the real estate and art booms – before anyone was motivated by money and ambition. The definition of fame, success and power were very different than today – to be a penniless but published poet was the height of success, until everything changed in the early 1980s. This is New York City's story before that change. 

THE BACKGROUND 

“If we don't tell the history, then others will, who weren't there and don't know the truth.” - Alexis Adler 

Thirty years ago, Alexis Adler, an embryologist and friend of Jean-Michel stored away what’s now considered a treasure trove of his art and writings, along with the more than 150 photographs she took of him at work, goofing around and hanging out. In 1979, she gave him a key to her apartment, a safe place for him to stay and there he began to explore his talents. 

BASQUIAT AND NEW YORK CITY 

The film explores the movements that touched and inspired Jean-Michel Basquiat, as well as the influence a bankrupt, violent city had on this seminal artist. Jean-Michel has become, over the years, the ultimate representation of this period. All the many things that were going on in the city fed through him – politics, hip-hop, punk rock, race issues and the art scene. 

In 1978, Jean-Michel was a teenager (18 years old), living on the street and sleeping on friends’ sofas in the East Village. He was shaped and formed by his friendships — those he influenced and those who influenced him. The crumbling city allowed them the freedom to discover and experiment with their work. 

THE CITY, THE CRIME, THE ARTS 

During a brief time, downtown NYC was the epicenter for a community of young artists: musicians, painters, sculptors, filmmakers, performers, dancers, etc., living among the burned-out buildings that punctuated the city. These artists cross-pollinated each other, experimenting with different mediums. There were no divisions between young and old. The young learned from the older artists and vice versa. At the parties, clubs and in the streets there were minimalist painters, beatniks and jazz heroes. It was cheap to live in NYC. The city was lawless and drugs were everywhere, sold openly on the street. 

The origins of hip-hop were floating through everything. The sounds of salsa, disco, punk, hardcore and no wave music wafted in the streets and through the clubs: CBGB, Mudd Club, Max’s Kansas City, Hurrah, Studio 54, Tier 3. 

The streets were dangerous and crime rampant. The night’s events spread by word of mouth and handmade posters plastered on building walls, as well as through listings in local art papers: the Village Voice, the East Village Eye and the Soho News. NYC was bankrupt and crumbling, but because it was so cheap it became a fertile breeding ground for so many artists. 

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT – SARA DRIVER 

Working closely and collaboratively with my friends and other artists who emerged from that scene: Nan Goldin, Jim Jarmusch, James Nares, Fred Brathwaite aka Fab Five Freddy, Lee Quiñones, Luc Sante and many others who participated in the film with their thoughts, period film footage, music, images and anecdotes of their young friend, all of which helped to tell the story of Jean-Michel’s downtown NYC — pre-AIDS, before the real estate and art booms, and before anyone was motivated by money and ambition. The definition of fame, success and ambition were very different than today — to be a penniless but a published poet was the height of success. President Reagan, the influx of money, AIDS and drugs changed everything after 1981. 

Jean-Michel investigated many things via his friends and his innate curiosity, producing accomplishments as a poet, a musician, a painter and a sculptor. All in all, Jean-Michel was excited by ideas, absorbing them whenever and wherever possible. This film celebrates the humanism of Jean-Michel, while avoiding his mythification. Three decades after his death, he is considered one of the major artists of the 20th century. Jean-Michel Basquiat was not only an extraordinary and prolific artist, but he also broke open a very closed and elitist white art world. I like to think of him as a cross between Rimbaud and Mozart — a brilliant, poetic prankster whose creative impulses were on fire. - Sara Driver 

Sara Driver adapted, produced and directed the film version of Paul Bowles’ short story, You Are Not I (1982). The film was lost for many years and then rediscovered among Bowles’ belongings. It was awarded a restoration grant by the Women’s Film Preservation Fund via NYWFT and selected and shown in the Masterworks section of the New York Film Festival 2011. 

Her first feature film Sleepwalk (1986) won the prestigious Prix Georges Sadoul given by the French Cinémathèque. It was the opening night film for the 25th Anniversary of the Semaine de la Critique at Cannes and won the Special Prize at the Mannheim Film Festival. In 1993, her second feature When Pigs Fly, starring Marianne Faithfull and Alfred Molina, premiered in competition at the Locarno Film Festival. 

Driver’s other film credits include serving as producer on Jim Jarmusch’s Permanent Vacation and Stranger Than Paradise, Tom Waits music video “It’s All Right With Me” and as co-producer of Uncle Howard by Aaron Brookner. Driver also taught directing at New York University’s Graduate Film School (1996-98).