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Banksy Revealed? Parsing a Sundance Mystery

Excellent post by Filmmaker Magazine’s Eric Kohn questioning the authenticity of Banksy’s documentary film, Exit Through the Gift Shop. Although the movie is receiving positive feedback many are skeptical about the infamous street artist Banksy’s involvement in the film or his ability to even make a movie. In this post writer Kohn shares his theories, even naming Spike Jonze as a likely suspect, since many of the themes and settings in Gift Shop — Los Angeles, elaborate wealth, pranks — suggest the whims often associated with his work.

What capacity does Banksy have to make a movie? What story could he tell? And most tantalizing of all: Would the masked man finally reveal his face?

While Exit Through the Gift Shop has now screened at Sundance three times, none of those questions remain fully answered. The movie, ostensibly a portrait of street artists around the world and the lucrative industry that has embraced their work, shows Banksy in silhouette and masks the sound of his voice. Beyond that basic disguise, however, lies evidence of an even greater ruse: The lingering doubt that Bansky — whoever that is — actually made this movie at all, and whether or not its supposed documentary content has any foundation in reality.

Check out the link for the full post.