Documentary, Festivals, Films, News, Women Directors

TIFF 2017: Sara Driver’s Basquiat Doc Acquired by The Match Factory

Sara Driver: Unseen Zinema/YouTube

The Toronto International Film Festival hasn’t even begun yet and already a woman-directed selection has been sold. Variety reports that Sara Driver’s doc “Boom for Real: The Late Teenage Years of Jean-Michel Basquiat” has been acquired by The Match Factory. The company snagged the film’s international rights ahead of its world premiere in TIFF’s Documentary slate.

“Boom for Real” presents the young adult life of artist Basquiat. According to the official synopsis, the documentary “combines the life of Basquiat, as this effervescent figure, during his late formative years in New York City, and how his vision was embodied not only by the city, but its people and arts culture of the late 1970s and ’80s. NYC was changing: the downtown artists were creating their own scene in places which became famous later like Club 57, CBGB, Mudd Club, and pop-up galleries. Basquiat was emblematical, crossing borders between art forms.”

Driver depicts Basquiat’s story through archival footage and interviews with those who knew the artist, including rapper Fab 5 Freddy, director Jim Jarmusch, and graffiti artist Lee Quiñones.

In addition to directing, Driver produced the doc with Rachel Dengiz (“Medora”).

“I am highly enthusiastic to bring Sara Driver’s film to the world,” Match Factory managing director Michael Weber commented. “Basquiat’s story blew me away by the richness of his art and his personal strength.”

Basquiat’s life has been a film subject before. Tamra Davis directed the 2010 in-depth doc “Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child” and Julian Schnabel helmed the 1996 narrative feature “Basquiat,” which starred Jeffrey Wright as the artist.

Driver has previously directed narrative films. “You Are Not I,” “Sleepwalk,” and “When Pigs Fly.” “Boom for Real” marks her documentary debut.

“Boom for Real: The Late Teenage Years of Jean-Michel Basquiat” premieres September 8 at TIFF. The fest runs September 7–17.

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