Boom for Real

Director: Sara Driver, NR

This abstract portrait of an elusive young artist before he was famous encapsulates a perfect snapshot of the city, times, people, and movements that shaped this legendary man. Using never-before-seen works, writings, and photographs, director Sara Driver collaborated with fellow friends and artists who emerged from the same scene: Jim Jarmusch, James Nares, Fab Five Freddy, Glenn O’Brien, Kenny Scharf, Lee Quiñones, Patricia Field, Lucy Sante, and many others. Boom for Real recreates the heady world of late-1970s New York, offering a vivid portrait of Basquiat and downtown Manhattan before AIDS. “Boom for Real” pinpoints the moment when the graffiti world pivoted, without knowing it, into the art world.” —Variety