DVD documents Banksy’s 1980s predecessor, Shadowman

Richard Hambleton, aka Shadowman. Image courtesy of Film Movement

NEW YORK – Before Banksy, there was Hambleton. In the 1980s, Richard Hambleton was the Shadowman, a specter in the night who painted hundreds of startling silhouettes on the walls of lower Manhattan and, along with Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat, sparked the street art movement.

After drug addiction and homelessness sent him spinning out of the art scene for 20 years, Hambleton gets a second chance…but would he take it? Following its acclaimed theatrical release, SHADOWMAN, a New York Times Critic’s Pick from Oscar®-nominated director Oren Jacoby (Sister Rose’s Passion, Constantine’s Sword), arrives on DVD on January 2, 2018, answering that and other questions about the troubled street art pioneer who died on October 29 at age 65.

SHADOWMAN plunges the viewer into the chaotic life of a forgotten artist, from early fame as a painter and denizen of the Lower East Side, through his struggles with heroin, to his surprising comeback as street art exploded to become one of the most popular and lucrative art movements in the world. Featuring rare footage of 1980s music and art, which bring to the screen an indelible portrait of New York City from a lost, transformative time, SHADOWMAN is a trip down a rabbit hole into the mystifying, agonizing, exhilarating, and sometimes frightening, world of a brilliant artist in the thralls of creation and addiction.

Earl Douglas of The Interrobang calls SHADOWMAN “a fitting epitaph for an art world giant,” Peter Goldberg of Slant Magazine says the doc is [an] art-world fairy tale unafraid to face the bitter details of its hero’s tumultuous life,” and Culture Sonar calls it “A fascinating (and frankly, heart-wrenching) documentary about this remarkable artist.”

The SHADOWMAN DVD has a suggested retail price of $24.95. It is 83 minutes long and contains over 30 minutes of additional footage and deleted scenes. Click to view the official US trailer.

SHADOWMAN will come out on DVD on January 2, 2018. Image courtesy of Film Movement

FILM FESTIVALS:

Official Selection — Tribeca Film Festival
Official Selection — Nantucket Film Festival
Official Selection — Stockholm International Film Festival
Official Selection — Nantucket Film Festival
Official Selection – Virginia Film Festival

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