BOMB IT
Directed by Jon Reiss
PRODUCTION NOTES
Running Time: 93 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 16:9 (full frame) / Dolby E
Not Rated
Country of Origin: USA
Original Production Format: Digital Video 24P DV
Original Languages: English, French, German, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish
with English subtitles
www.bombit-themovie.com
www.myspace.com/bombitthemovie
Please direct press inquiries to:
Lynn Hasty at Green Galactic
(213) 840-1201
lynn@greengalactic.com
A Flying Cow production in association with Antidote Films, Inc.
A film by Jon Reiss
BOMB IT
Directed by
JON REISS
Produced by
TRACY WARES
JON REISS
JEFFREY LEVY-HINTE
KATE CHRISTENSEN
Co-Producers
JAMES DEBBS
ARNEL SAN PEDRO
Director of Photography
TRACY WARES
Editors
ALEX MÁRQUEZ
JESSICA HERNÁNDEZ
Additional Editor
RICHARD SHACTER
Animation by
JON GUTMAN & MATT CLAUSON
BEAU DeSILVA
BRIAN WHIP
SAMIR ARGHANDIWALL & JAMES JACULINA
Music Supervisor
DAVID GARCIA
Music Composed by
MEREDITH CHIN
DISCO D
FEDERICO RAMOS
Artist & Main Title Design by:
CALDER GREENWOOD
BOMB IT
Synopsis
“Graffiti belongs to everyone and no one. On a section of a
condemned wall, I put up a graffito. . . (A) bank director
stopped the construction work, had my carving cut out as a
fresco and inlayed it in the wall of his apartment.”
– Pablo Picasso
BOMB IT is an explosive new documentary from award-winning director Jon Reiss
(BETTER LIVING THROUGH CIRCUITRY) which explores the most subversive and
controversial art form currently shaping international youth culture: graffiti.
While some believe graffiti is as old as the innate human need for communication and
self expression and may even predate language, graffiti remains a highly controversial
issue and raises important questions about our contemporary social structure: Who has
the right to express themselves? What is a canvas? Where should art take place? Who
decides how public space is used? If public space is a forum for discussion, which voices
are allowed to be heard?
Today we are as likely to encounter graffiti-influenced art in the Smithsonian as we are
on an urban bus ride. How did this radical street art evolve into the ultimate signifier of
urban cool, co-opted by corporations from MTV to Nike to Nissan? BOMB IT explores
how graffiti has developed worldwide to encompass stenciling, postering, and any
unsanctioned graphic “interference” in public space.
Using myriad original interviews from around the world and guerilla footage of graffiti
writers in action, BOMB IT tells the story of graffiti from its origins in prehistoric cave
paintings through ancient Rome and more recent Latino placas to its notorious
emergence as a visual adjunct to the rise of hip hop culture in New York in the 1970s,
culminating in its current complex variations around the planet.
The most comprehensive documentary on graffiti to date, BOMB IT is the first film to
explore the movement from a truly global perspective, examining how artists around the
world have taken the medium and applied it to their particular cultural and social
conditions, from its modern birthplace in the slums of Philadelphia and New York City to
Europe, where a dadaist/surrealist tradition produces deliberately confrontational
prankstering, to Brazil, where graffiti traces its roots to the anti-fascist pichaçao writings
of the 1960s and 1970s, to Japan, where anime-inspired graffiti challenges conformist
societal norms, and back to Los Angeles, where graffiti has been strongly influenced by
Chicano and gang culture.
The controversy surrounding graffiti is an integral part of the story: from anti-tagging
groups to the impact of New York’s infamous “Quality of Life” laws which directly
targeted illicit writing, to the burgeoning resistance confronting the global proliferation of
laws intended to stop graffiti. BOMB IT also explores how graffiti writers vary in their
attitudes toward the art world’s embrace of graffiti as evidenced in gallery shows and
commissioned work and examines the effect “sanctioned” writing has had on a form
known for its guerilla tactics and essentially subversive nature.
Graffiti, postering, stenciling, and stickering form a fascinating and radical movement
that defies definition except as a voice demanding to be heard. Born out of urban blight,
graffiti’s tough mimetic code consistently defies the forces that try to stop it and thrives
today in varied and artistically sophisticated forms around the world. BOMB IT brings
this exciting global phenomenon to the screen.
“A high wall throws down a challenge. Protecting property,
defending order, it is a target for protest and insult, as well
as for demands of every sexual, political or social passion.”
– Brassai
BOMB IT
A Conversation with Director Jon Reiss
ON INSPIRATION
In the early interviews for BOMB IT, I was immediately struck by the myriad issues and
contradictions brought about by this movement of outsider art. An old-school New York
graffiti writer from the early 1980s, Sharp, encouraged me to pursue the documentary
because while many movies had been made about graffiti over the years, no one had
pursued it as a global movement.
I was also struck by the notion that humankind has been compelled to write on walls for
thousands of years. The very act itself addresses the eternal human quest for some form
of immortality in the face of a vast universe – some universal desire to state “I was here”
– which I feel drives a good deal of human creation, not just graffiti.
The same weekend I interviewed Sharp, a young writer, 2EASE, took me out on my first
bombing raid which immediately reminded me of my days with Survival Research
Laboratories when we would “liberate” industrial equipment to create fantastic
anthropomorphic robots for street theater.
It was important for me, however infatuated that I had become with the movement, to
showcase as many sides to the story of graffiti as possible. That meant to represent this
more hard-core side of the culture while also representing those who find graffiti
offensive and are fighting to keep it in check. We went to great efforts to connect with
government officials and police in every city we went to.
I was also amazed by the differences that we found between cities and their approach to
street art. While on the surface much of the world seems overwhelmed by the New York
City “wild style” we found that there is not only a great range of styles that varies from
city to city but also a different approach and attitude about graffiti. This is particularly
exemplified by the writers in South Africa who point out that for them graffiti is a luxury
sport. Paint is expensive and only those who no longer need to worry about food and
shelter can afford it.
ON MAKING A FILM ON FIVE CONTINENTS WITH NO MONEY
This film would not have been possible without the Internet in more than a few key ways.
Obviously it helped us in contacting artists and receiving images from all over the world
but more importantly in assembling a worldwide crew that for the most part worked for
free. Craig’s List and Mandy.com were essential to connecting me with the up and
coming filmmakers who made BOMB IT happen.
The most important instance of this was when I posted for a researcher to jump start the
project. I received the resume of Tracy Wares who was especially interested in the global
nature of the project – she loves to travel, was used to traveling under severe budgetary
restrictions, loves street art, and is very political.
It was a perfect match and Tracy quickly rose from researcher to associate producer to
producer in a matter of months. What quickly became even more crucial to the project
was the discovery that Tracy was a camera person – what could be more perfect than a
producer/DP? With me directing, recording sound, and gaffing, we could travel the
world as a two-person crew – an essential plan since we had no money.
In fact we had so little money at first that we were intending to go to Europe as part of a
family vacation organized by my wife. In retrospect this would have been an unmitigated
disaster. On all of our trips we easily shot from 10am to midnight every day, and my kids
(7 & 10 years old) certainly would have been pissed!
But then the London bombings occurred and my wife was NOT taking our children to
Europe. Just in time, we received a small grant from the Annenberg Foundation, which
financed our five-week trip to Europe (London, Amsterdam, Paris, Barcelona, Berlin)
and Cape Town, South Africa. By the end of August ‘05 we had filmed three of the five
continents we targeted. We anguished over excluding Australia but we had to choose
between Africa and Australia and the Aussies lost. We felt that Africa had a unique set
of cultural and socio-historical influences that had yet to receive exposure for their
contribution to graffiti.
Another key component for making the film was that I teach film at Loyola Marymount
University and Cal Arts. LMU provided my production equipment and insurance for
New York and Europe/South Africa. Cal Arts did the same for Sao Paulo, Tokyo, and
the rest of Los Angeles and our return trip to New York. Just as important, much of my
support crew (several associate producers, lead assistant editors, animators, etc.) came
from a roster of both current and former students.
ON FILMING FELONS
One of the biggest challenges in making this film was to convince people who are
essentially criminals to not only allow you to film them talking about their crimes on
camera but also to let you film them in the act of committing those crimes, most of which
are now classified as felonies.
One time when I walked into one of the TKO “yards” even though we had already
spoken to the head of the TKO crew the writers on the scene were convinced that I was a
cop. Even as I left they wanted to look at my photos and make sure that they weren’t
incriminating.
In Berlin, after breaking into an apartment building, we spent hours on the roof with the
CBK crew waiting for the undercover police (who were theoretically on the street) to
disperse. This was after the passage of the new anti-graffiti law making graffiti
punishable by prison sentences of three years. The most fun was had in Sheffield,
England. After we had gone into an abandoned gas station that had been taken over as a
squat we suddenly heard the classic “come out with your hands up” over a police
loudspeaker. Since our rental car had London plates and we had been observed going
into the squat (remember the London bombings had occurred the week before), we were
suspected of being terrorists. Fortunately when they discovered we were merely
American tourists they let us go after searching our Interpol records.
We would not have been able to make this movie without the trust that we developed
with graffiti writers over the course of the project. Writers are extremely suspicious of
how their culture has been portrayed in the media by outsiders. Similar to making my
film BETTER LIVING THROUGH CIRCUITRY about another quasi-legal subculture
(raves), penetrating the inner core of the scene took time, patience, and vital referrals
from the people who initially allowed us to interview them. Only at the very end of
filming when we interviewed Revok, Skuf and KET crew did we feel that we had finally
penetrated the inner core of the international graffiti scene. To get that far we had to gain
the trust of hundreds of other writers who had started a chain of recommendations from
one to the next.
ON ADVENTURES DURING PRODUCTION AROUND THE GLOBE
Some of the highlights of our travels around the world were meeting the legendary
Cornbread and Taki 183, two of the acknowledged founders of the movement. We found
Cornbread still living in Germantown, the extremely poor section of Philadelphia where
he grew up. In fact this turned out to be one of the most blighted slums we visited
anywhere in the world.
We found Taki 183, who had not granted an interview in over 30 years, at his current day
job as an auto shop worker in Yonkers, New York.
London was brutal. Our car was booted within 5 minutes of arriving at our hotel. We
lost a day of shooting because the rental car had no signs that it was diesel not petrol.
Traveling from one side of London to the other took hours. And on the last day my
computer was stolen. We were extremely happy to land in Amsterdam where everything
returned to “normal”.
Toward the end of our short stay in Paris, we finally connected with Blek le Rat – who
apologized that he couldn’t meet us in Paris but invited us to “his” castle 400 miles away.
So we bit the bullet, bought TGV tickets, and met Blek at the train station. I was taken
aback by this affable bourgeois person – who reminded me of myself. His artistic
endeavors were born out of the punk rock movement of the late 1970s and early 1980s
and he has been an iconoclast ever since. The castle was not his, but he had artistically
squatted it twenty years prior. The countess who owned it had long abandoned it,
believing it was haunted by her late husband.
We fortunately hooked up with Faith 47 from Cape Town relatively early on: she not
only invited us down to Cape Town and offered to be our driver but also set up a huge
“jam”-in where she invited every major writer not just from Cape Town but from all over
South Africa.
What was amazing about South Africa was to learn that although apartheid does not exist
as a political structure anymore, it still exists as an economic structure. As interesting to
me was discovering that it was the “colored” or mixed-race people in South Africa who
for both economic and cultural reasons had adopted graffiti and hip hop, not the
predominantly “black” population. Colored people in South Africa are stuck between
two cultures without full acceptance from either.
One of the unexpected jewels of our travels was Zezao, who graciously brought us down
into the sewers of Sao Paulo where he paints. The only thing he asked in return was for
us to give him the full body protective suits that we needed to buy in order to accompany
him into the sewers. I’ve been in some pretty nasty places in my documentary career but
even I had second thoughts as to whether I was really needed down there. I considered
sending Tracy down with Zezao on her own! I could just see telling my wife that I was
in a Sao Paulo hospital for three weeks because I had stepped on a nail in the sewers (as
had happened to Zezao). But ultimately I realized that tromping through other people’s
sewage was an opportunity I couldn’t turn down, and that if I wasn’t prepared to do that
for my film, what was I prepared to do!
ON EDITING
The next monumental task in making this film was coming to terms with the 400 hours of
footage that we had acquired. It was such a daunting task that our first editor froze at the
sheer size of it. I quickly realized that no one editor would be able to wade through all of
our material on his or her own.
I devised a plan where a team of associate editors (a combination of former students and
up-and-comers culled from the Internet who hadn’t cut a feature yet) would cut
individual sequences. It was an arduous process coordinated by Kate Christensen –
another Internet find who had also signed on as a researcher and risen to Associate
Producer then Co-Producer then Producer in a matter of months.
The process entailed getting each interview transcribed or translated (we had over 100
hours of footage in five foreign languages). We would also burn audio CDs of the
interviews so I could listen to them in the car as I drove the two hour round trip to Cal
Arts three times a week. After hearing an interview I would take the transcript and make
a paper cut of the segment. I would then hand this over with the footage on a trans-drive
so the associate editor could take the footage home to cut. They would then bring in their
roughs and I would give them notes and off they would go to re-cut.
At the height of this process we had ten associates all cutting simultaneously supported
by four assistants and 12 transcriber/translators. We kept track of these ten associates
and 300 interviews on a large grid on one of our walls so we could see at a glance what
was holding up a particular city or continent. By August 2006 we had a four-hour-long
rough assembly of the film.
All this time we kept looking for an editor who would take the assembly and work with
me to cut it down to a lean, 90-minute machine. We found Alex Marquez who had cut
COMANDANTE, LOOKING FOR FIDEL, and ALEXANDER for Oliver Stone in
addition to THE NIGHT BUFFALO written and produced by Guillermo Arriaga. Alex
worked so fast and we had such an incredible synergy that we were able to cut the film
down to 110 minutes in a month. We cut another 20 minutes out of the film the second
month.
The most difficult part of the editing process was to create a narrative flow out of so
many disparate personalities and stories from five continents spanning a 40-year history.
I was quickly reminded of how easy it is to start a documentary and how difficult it is to
finish – especially when I tend to interview people for an hour to three hours.
Fortunately it seemed that there was a natural interconnection between the development
of various styles of modern, fame-based graffiti and its spread throughout the world.
These structuring devices (stylistic, geographic, temporal) seemed to dovetail nicely into
the increasing complexity of the themes raised by graffiti.
One of the most difficult tasks on this film has been cutting so many wonderful people
and ideas out of the film. There is the old film cliché that you have to kill your babies in
the cutting room. Well, ours became a slaughterhouse. We spent days filming some
people whose work is now only represented in a flash of art going by. But from the
beginning we have been committed to creating a theatrical narrative experience for the
film that would appeal to as broad an audience as possible.
What made this normally excruciating process much less painful is the fact that we
consider BOMBT IT the flagship of a much larger project. Those same associates who
were instrumental in cutting down the 400 hours of footage have now been given the first
shot at editing films that will each focus on a different continent or city or style of
graffiti. New York and Europe are already being edited. Sao Paulo, Los Angeles, Japan
and South Africa are in progress. And there is more to come.
BOMB IT
About the Filmmakers
JON REISS (Director/Producer)
Named one of “10 Digital Directors to Watch” by Daily Variety, Jon Reiss’ last
documentary feature film was BETTER LIVING THROUGH CIRCUITRY, a startling,
humorous, and entertaining glimpse into rave culture featuring the Crystal Method, Roni
Size, and Moby, among others. The film played at such festivals as RESfest, Rotterdam,
Sao Paulo, Copenhagen, Los Angeles Independent, Seattle, Vancouver, and the Sheffield
International Doc Festival before being released theatrically in the United States.
Reiss’ first film, CLEOPATRA’S SECOND HUSBAND, is a dark psychological drama
which screened at the Los Angeles Independent, Seattle, Montreal World, Hamptons,
Houston, Sao Paulo, and Bangkok film festivals, winning Best First Feature at Cinequest
before its theatrical release in the United States and subsequent DVD release by First Run
Features.
As an award-winning music video director, Reiss has directed videos for Nine Inch Nails,
The Black Crowes, Danzig, Slayer, and the Kottonmouth Kings. Reiss’ “Happiness in
Slavery” video for Nine Inch Nails won awards at the Chicago and San Francisco film
festivals and was voted Top Ten by the Village Voice Critics Poll for Best Music Video.
In 1995 the Toronto Film Festival curated a retrospective of Reiss’ music videos. His
shorts have screened at festivals throughout the world including Sundance, Berlin, New
Directors/New Films, Edinburgh, and Chicago. Reiss received his MFA from the UCLA
Film School.
Reiss’ early credits include four hour-long documentaries concerning the notorious
performance group Survival Research Laboratories. These documentaries have screened
in festivals, theaters, and cultural centers throughout the world. All were included in the
2004 DVD compilation “10 Years of Robotic Mayhem.” Reiss got his start in
filmmaking at Target Video, a San Francisco-based alternative video company where he
covered much of the West Coast punk explosion.
Reiss is currently developing two feature scripts: SUCK, which takes place in the early
days of San Francisco punk rock, and FROM THE ASHES, a modern mythical horror
film set in New Orleans inspired by Octave Mirabeaux's "The Torture Garden".
For more information go to www.jonreiss.com.
JEFFREY LEVY-HINTE (Producer)
Jeffrey Levy-Hinte most recently produced THE LAST WINTER written and directed by
Larry Fessenden and starring Ron Perlman, James LeGros and Connie Britton, as well as
THE HAWK IS DYING adapted from Harry Crews’ novel and directed by Julian
Goldberger and starring Paul Giamatti, Michael Pitt and Michelle Williams. THE
HAWK IS DYING premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and screened in the
2006 Director’s Fortnight at Cannes.
Prior to that, Levy-Hinte produced MYSTERIOUS SKIN adapted from Scott Heim’s
novel and directed by Gregg Araki and starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Brady Corbet,
Michelle Trachtenberg and Elisabeth Shue. MYSTERIOUS SKIN screened at the 2004
Venice and Toronto Film Festivals and the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. It was released
in the US in May 2005 to widespread critical acclaim, and nominated for IFP Gotham
and Independent Spirit Awards.
Levy-Hinte’s other productions include CHAIN, a hybrid documentary-narrative feature
which premiered at the 2004 Berlin Film Festival and for which director Jem Cohen was
awarded the “Someone to Watch Award” at the 2005 Independent Spirit Awards; and
THIRTEEN directed by Catherine Hardwicke and starring Holly Hunter and Evan Rachel
Wood, which screened at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival where it won the Dramatic
Directing Award. THIRTEEN received numerous award nominations, including a Best
Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for Holly Hunter, Golden Globe and Screen Actors
Guild Award nominations for Holly Hunter and Evan Rachel Wood, Best Screenplay and
First Feature nominations and won the Best Debut Performance award for Nikki Reed at
the Independent Spirit Awards.
Levy-Hinte also produced LAUREL CANYON directed by Lisa Cholodenko,
WENDIGO directed by Larry Fessenden, AMERICAN SAINT directed by Joseph
Castello, and LIMON, a documentary directed by Malachi Roth. Prior to 2000, LevyHinte produced Lisa Cholodenko’s film HIGH ART and edited the Academy Awardwinning documentary WHEN WE WERE KINGS. In 2003 Levy-Hinte was selected as
one of Variety’s “Producers to Watch”.
Levy-Hinte is currently preparing for production on THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT
written and to be directed by Lisa Cholodenko.
In addition to his film company ANTIDOTE FILMS, Levy-Hinte is the co-owner of Dig
It Audio, an audio post house that provides complete sound services for video and feature
film.
TRACY WARES (Producer/Director of Photography)
Tracy Wares’ passion for documentary filmmaking began while at the University of
California, Berkeley where she graduated magna cum laude with a degree in
Anthropology. There she created a documentary entitled Royal Drag about the drag ball
community in San Francisco and an award-winning thesis film, Shakti, which explored
the role of women in Hinduism inside India and issues of power and autonomy.
While working in Thailand for over two years, she collaborated with various local
grassroots organizations working with Burmese refugees. Tracy trained members to use
video in advocacy work and how to document human rights abuses by the military junta
inside Burma. At a nonprofit video production house, Images Asia, she wrote and edited
a documentary about the forced conscription of child soldiers entitled NO CHILDHOOD
AT ALL: CHILD SOLDIERS IN BURMA. She worked with the Human Rights
Education Institute of Burma to produce educational videos on landmines and child
development, and wrote extensively on human rights abuses against women, children,
and ethnic minorities for the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma.
Since her arrival in Los Angeles she has been active as a director of photography. She
filmed GAY REPUBLICANS, a documentary about the Log Cabin Republicans and their
struggle for recognition and equal rights. It won the Audience Award at the American
Film Institute’s 2004 Film Festival and was later broadcast nationally on Trio. It was
also shown at film festivals in Toronto, Miami, Palm Desert, San Francisco, and Newport
Beach. She also shot for “TransGeneration,” an eight-part Sundance Channel series on
transgender university students. A festival-cut feature screened at the Frameline Festival
in San Francisco and in Los Angeles at OutFest 2005.
While continuing to pursue her interest in social issues, Tracy directed, shot, and edited a
short documentary for the non-profit Mothers’ Club of Pasadena, which benefits isolated
immigrated mothers and their children through educational programs. She also shoots
interviews regularly with celebrities in the music industry for the International Music
Feed (IMF) and field produces and shoots for reality television programming.
KATE CHRISTENSEN (Producer)
Kate Christensen has edited a number of film and television projects, including the
Emmy award-winning season of ABC's “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.” Her short
film "Secession" was partially funded by a grant from the Panavision New Filmmaker
Program. It screened in the US, Italy, and the UK. She graduated from Brown
University with a major in History.
ALEX MÁRQUEZ (Editor)
Alex Marquez’ first job in post-production was as the Apprentice Editor on Oliver
Stone’s ANY GIVEN SUNDAY. He started as a runner but by the end of postproduction he was cutting scenes and stayed on to help Mr. Stone with the director's cut.
This led to his next job as the editor of Stone’s feature-length documentary
COMANDANTE which premiered at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival and was sold to
HBO. Following this he worked on Stone’s HBO documentary LOOKING FOR FIDEL.
Once done with Cuba and Fidel Castro, he moved on to Stone’s next feature,
ALEXANDER, editing the theatrical release in 2004, the director’s cut in 2005, and a
new extended cut in 2006. Between the different versions of ALEXANDER he worked
on the documentary JACK SMITH AND THE DESTRUCTION OF ATLANTIS which
premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2006 where it won an honorable mention for
Best NY Documentary Feature. Most recently Alex moved to Mexico City for six
months to work on EL BÚFALO DE LA NOCHE (THE NIGHT BUFFALO) which was
written and produced by Guillermo Arriaga (writer of AMORES PERROS, 21 GRAMS,
and BABEL).
JESSICA HERNÁNDEZ (Editor)
Jessica Hernandez was born and raised in Huntington Beach, California, attended the
University of California Santa Barbara and graduated with a degree in Philosophy. She
has been editing since 2003 when she began cutting trailers for HBO Films and has since
edited both scripted and unscripted projects in film and television. She edited the
documentary MISS NAVAJO which was an official selection of the 2007 Sundance Film
Festival. Currently Jessica is wrapping post on her first narrative feature, KARMA
CALLING, and she continues to work in television for networks such as ABC, MTV, and
Bravo.
LISA Y. GARIBAY (Co-Producer)
Lisa Y. Garibay was born and raised in El Paso, Texas, attended Amherst College in
Massachusetts, and currently lives in Los Angeles. Garibay produced and music
supervised the feature film ROBBING PETER which world premiered in narrative
competition at the 2004 Los Angeles Film Festival. ROBBING PETER received four
2005 Independent Spirit Award nominations including one for the John Cassavetes
Award, given to the producer(s) of the Best Feature Under $500,000.
Garibay’s writing about music, film and Latino culture appears regularly in Filmmaker
magazine, Mean Street magazine, the San Francisco Bay Guardian, SOMA magazine,
and the IFP Calendar newsletter and official Web site. In 2001, Garibay was awarded a
fellowship with the Sundance Institute’s Arts Writing Program.
In 2003, Garibay’s feature script All For One was selected to participate in the first-ever
NALIP/New York Latino Film Festival Latino Writers Lab, where it secured
representation by ICM. Currently Garibay is directing the documentary SISTERS Y
SANTOS, focusing on activists battling violence against women along the U.S-Mexico
border.
ARNEL SAN PEDRO (Co-Producer)
Arnel was the Senior VP of Theatrical Distribution & PR at Seventh Art Releasing.
There, he released the award-winning documentaries JONESTOWN: THE LIFE AND
DEATH OF PEOPLES TEMPLE and WORKINGMAN'S DEATH. His broad producing
experience encompasses multiple film, television, and event productions at Viacom, the
Winter Music Conference, WE, Food Network, and Dalzell, to name a few. His pilot
“Needles N' Threads” earned critical acclaim and his graffiti short documentary “Ellis
Quemada Gallagher” won the Viewer’s Choice Award at the MTV Film Festival. In
2005, he was named one of the Most Influential Industry Tastemakers by FADER
magazine. Arnel graduated Cum Laude from New York University with a degree in Film
and Marketing and as a member of the prestigious Martin Luther King Jr. Scholars
Program.
BOMB IT
About some of the artists featured in the film
CORNBREAD
Cornbread is widely acknowledged as the first writer to take his name out of his own
neighborhood and seek city-wide recognition for his tag back in 1967, before the
phenomenon began in New York City. While gaining citywide recognition for his name,
he performed a number of high-profile pranks (reminiscent of modern day Banksy) such
as tagging an elephant in the Philadelphia Zoo, staging a fake shootout in order to spray
paint a score of police cars, as well as hitting the Jackson 5’s 747 while parked at the
Philadelphia International Airport in front of a sea of fans. This latter stunt earned him a
visit from American International Pictures where he and his buddies became the uncredited basis of the film Cornbread, Earl and Me (1975). Having overcome battles with
drug addiction over the years, he is currently making a comeback and granted us a rare
interview including a tour of his old neighborhood and the location where he sprayed his
first tag.
TAKI 183
In a 1971 article entitled “Taki 183 Spawns Pen Pals,” the New York Times declared
Taki 183 as the king of New York City graffiti, being the first writer to spread his name
throughout the city. Within a year of the article, hundreds of new writers emerged and
took New York City by storm. In an exclusive and rare interview, Taki 183, now an
owner of an auto repair shop in Yonkers disavowing his notorious past, explains how and
why he became the poster-boy for this new phenomenon.
ZEPHYR
Called “The elder statesman of graffiti” by the New York Times, Zephyr has been
creating graffiti for over 30 years. Starting in the mid-1970s and becoming one of the
most prolific and celebrated subway bombers of the 1980’s he designed the title for the
seminal film Wild Style which has been hand-copied by aspiring graffiti writers all over
the world. In addition to his graffiti, which he still practices to this day, he is the author
of countless articles on graffiti and the book Style Master General: The Life and Work of
Dondi White (HarperCollins, 2001). Zephyr resides in an undisclosed location and has an
uneasy truce with New York City’s Vandal Squad.
T-KID 170
Terrible T-kid 170 is one of the most influential Bronx writers from the 1970s to the
present. In 1966 when he was five years old, he stood with his mom on the Burnside
Ave. southbound platform of the number 4 train and saw kids writing on the inside of a
laid-up train. His mother yanked his arm and yelled at him to stop looking at the “titeres”
(Spanish for hoodlums). At that moment the seed was planted. He started writing “King
13” in his local park because he was king of doing crazy tricks on the swings. When the
Bronx Enchanters caught him writing his name on their turf, they took his marker,
punched him in the face, and told him not to write his name on Watson Ave. ever again
or they would kill him. Back in the day, you either joined a gang or got your ass kicked
by them. So of course T-kid joined the gang and started to write his name all over their
turf. He moved from gang to gang, repeatedly changing his tag, using Bro2, Wake5,
Pearl, Dr Bad, Sen102, and R.H. We interviewed T-kid in the park where he was
inducted by the Bronx Enchanters, as well as the park where he was shot in a gang fight
in 1977. It was after recovering from this gunshot wound that he came up with the name
T-KID 170 and made the decision to devote his life to getting up and killing trains: whole
cars, end-to-ends, window-downs, and top-to-bottoms. After a few years he became a
master of style. T-kid is recognized by writers all over the world as having been one of
the key developers of what is now known as “Wild Style.” Ironically, in order to make a
stable living for his family, he paints homeless shelters for New York City’s Department
of Facilities, Maintenance and Development. But T-kid is also one of the few old school
writers that keeps up with the times, constantly changing up his style. He is currently a
member of the MÖTUG collective (Monsters of the Underground) that includes Futura,
Doze Greene, Ghost, Ewok and Shepard Fairey.
POSE II
As an original member of the world famous FX CREW, one of the most recognized
international groups of graffiti artists in the world, Pose has propelled his style and
influence outside the stars and stripes of the United States. Amsterdam, Belgium, Paris
and Japan have all been blessed with murals and exhibitions from this deep brother. In
1976 he adopted the tag Pose II and graffiti art became the cornerstone of his style. Over
the years Pose II has been commissioned to do advertisements for Reebok, Nissan and
Adidas. In recent years he completed a television segment for Discovery Channel’s
Trading Spaces. He has participated in the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program, which
holds the record for the most murals painted in any city throughout the world, and is
founder of the annual B-boy BBQ where hip-hop is showcased in its purest form. As
Pose puts it: “I live to create. . . I create to change. . . I change to evolve.”
DAIM (Germany)
DAIM prefers to take graffiti in an unusual direction. It seems as if the four letters of his
name jump off the wall, explode onto canvases, explore natural environments, and come
to life as sculptures. DAIM is known for being one of the first graffiti artists to take the
letter into the third dimension – a true visionary. He has a wide range of artistic motives
that include constantly exploring new media. After studying fine art in Switzerland,
DAIM reinvented his name using an orchestra of new techniques, such as etchings,
linoleum prints, and sculptures of wood and concrete. The works of Van Gogh and Frank
Gehry inspire him, but DAIM’s true inspiration lies within nature, with its extensive
variety of shapes, colors, and patterns. DAIM had a hand in painting the tallest graffiti in
the world, commemorated in the Guinness Book of Records. He is a member of
international artist collectives such as FX, FBI, SUK, and GBF, and has become one of
the most famous and sought-after graffiti artists in the world. He is invited to participate
in art shows and exhibitions around the world and has collectors in Japan, New Zealand,
Australia, the United States, as well as in Europe. In 1999 DAIM co-founded the artist
association “Getting Up.” From 2000-2002 they organized the very successful annual
Urban Discipline exhibitions in which international graffiti artists presented their work to
a wide public audience in Hamburg, Germany.
SCAGE (Netherlands)
One of the Netherlands' many talented typography masters, SCAGE is known for his
strange letter styles and prolific bombing throughout the country. SCAGE began his
career in 1988 influenced by legendary writers from his hometown of Leiden – namely
ZEDZ and DAYS. In the early days SCAGE garnered a degree of fame by focusing on
two spaces local artists weren’t getting up on at the time: strategically bombing the
Dutch railway tracks and 'keetjes', working-man cabins on wheels which moved
throughout the city. These feats secured his notoriety. Bored by the bombing life, which
he felt drained his energy and creativity, he focused on developing his own style and
language within the graffiti spectrum. SCAGE began a five-year program in 1993 at the
Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague, studying Graphic Design & Typography. A
professional graphic designer by trade, he enjoys experimenting with the fusion of graffiti
and print and has authored Amsterdam Graffiti: The Battle of Waterloo (Stadsuitgeverij
Amsterdam, 2004).
BLEK LE RAT (France)
Blek Le Rat knew that he did not want to merely copy the New York “Wild Style” which
influenced so many European writers. Inspired by the Situationists and punk rock he
began invading the streets of Paris with his signature stenciled rats in 1981. Blek has
inspired and influenced artists throughout the world and introduced the concept of
stenciling large scale images of people. In 1994 after a three-year court battle and
threatened with years of jail time, Blek was forced to give up his work with stencils and
turned to wheat-pasting posters. Most recently Blek has become a media sensation in
France through his campaign to make the country remember journalist Florence Aubenas
who was kidnapped on January 5, 2005 in Baghdad, Iraq. During her incarceration, Blek
put up life-size images of Florence throughout Paris in the places she traveled in her
former daily life. Florence was released on June 11 and met Blek on national television.
Blek is a father (his wife and son regularly participate in his night-time raids) and
working architect (none of his clients have a clue as to his nocturnal activities). We
traveled 400 kilometers from Paris to the Bagnac castle near Poitiers (where Blek has
been covertly stenciling for some twenty years) to meet up with Blek and his family.
SIXE (Spain)
Sixe began bombing and tagging on the streets in 1989-90. While the streets shaped his
style and sensibilities, he quickly evolved into creating characters, illustrating his own
world full of bad-boy punks – “cholos malos” – colorful animals, and extraterrestrials.
Combining basic graffiti style with painting, sculpture, fashion, and design, Sixe
describes his style as “a creator of nothing – an illuminating of dear Barcelona.” Sixe has
successfully exhibited his work in galleries in Europe while still painting the canvas of
the streets, and also works with the groups Art Attack, SAP, and There Is No Color.
OS GEMEOS (Brazil)
Os Gemeos (Portuguese for “the twins”) are Brazil’s most world-renowned graffiti artists
and muralists. These mavericks have reshaped the interpretation of street art; their style
is vibrant, magical, fantastic, simultaneously folksy and pop, projecting a child-like
surreal world that would make Dali blush. Their giant murals for Nike’s international
campaign, involving both billboards and shows, have entered them into cult status
amongst worldwide sneaker-jocks and hip hop junkies. The identical twins began
painting in 1988 and today work on canvases, sculptures, graphic design, and outdoor
walls, having made the transition from artists with street credibility to international art
world stars. We caught up with the globetrotters in their native city of São Paulo and
they painted for us in the mega-metropolis where they not only began their career but
continue to hold true to their roots by bombing and doing pichaçao (tagging)
spontaneously on the street.
DJ LADY TRIBE
Raised in Los Angeles, Tribe was immersed in the culturally diverse mecca of
underground graffiti artists and writers from a very young age. Tribe began her artistic
feats at the ripe age of 13. Eventually the young, adrenaline-seeking artist began
endeavors that even some of her male counterparts would never attempt. Tribe would
hang off of busy freeway overpasses, bombard moving busses, and climb the tallest
billboards, all for the sake of getting her name up. Having conquered yet another maledominated profession, she is one of the youngest, hottest female DJs in the fiercely
competitive Los Angeles nightclub scene. Fox News aired a story about her life and she
has hosted her own cable show about Latin hip-hop in Los Angeles, “L.A. Onda.” She
has also been featured in major magazines, music videos, national TV shows, and major
motion pictures. Watch out, because this hot mama is going to continue to climb to the
top.
SHEPARD FAIREY
Shepard Fairey’s Andre the Giant and Obey campaigns are infamous throughout the
world. Using posters, stickers, and stencils, Fairey has evolved an underground art
project into an internationally respected movement with thousands of enthusiastic
followers, a fine art career, and a successful clothing line and graphic design business.
Fairey has dedicated over 15 years of passion and hundreds of thousands of dollars and
endured 12 arrests to spread his street art and accompanying message of “Question
Everything.” Shepard Fairey views the OBEY sticker campaign as an experiment in
phenomenology: it attempts to stimulate curiosity and bring people to question both the
sticker and their relationship with their surroundings. Because OBEY has no actual
meaning, the various reactions and interpretations of those who view it reflect their own
personality and the nature of their sensibilities. Shepard Fairey is one of the first street
artists to truly make himself a brand name.
CHAZ BOJORQUEZ
As a boy in the 1950’s Chaz Bojorquez experienced placas, the graffiti tradition of
Mexican-Americans living in East Los Angeles. Dating back to at least the mid-1930's,
placas (or plaques) were much like a role call, symbols of territorial street boundaries and
pledges of allegiance to one's neighborhood. Not a gang member himself, he started his
career tagging in the L.A. riverbed. He is acknowledged as one of the first modern
writers to take graffiti out of the “gang” context and into a mural/art context. A master
calligrapher, he is world-renowned for his development of the Old English-based font
known as the West Coast "Cholo" style of writing. His zoot-suited skull icon, inspired by
Mexican folk art and the Aztec tradition, is known as Senõr Suerte (Mr. Lucky) and has
been adopted by gang members inside and outside of prison who tattoo it upon their flesh
in order to protect them from death. His work has been exhibited throughout the world
and hangs in top museums including the Smithsonian and The Los Angeles Museum of
Art. After more than a decade of tagging in the streets in the 1970’s and early 1980’s he
came to a deeper need to understand the motivations behind this modern art form. In
1979 he embarked on a three-year, round-the-world journey, visiting 35 countries to
study how graphics and letters describe culture. This exploration led him to ask: Does
graffiti art have intent, purpose, cultural identity, history and unity? Who owns the
public space and who has the right to speak and be heard?
VERY ONE
Very One CMK is an all-city king who travels throughout Asia and America leaving
bombs and fresh pieces in his wake. He also publishes one of Asia’s premiere graffiti
magazines, HSM. We met up with him in Tokyo, where he proved his hardcore bombing
skills on the city's streets.
RON ENGLISH
Ron English is widely considered to be one of the seminal figures in the ever-growing
“culture jamming” movement in which artists and activists subvert an existing
advertisement to send out their own message or encourage free thought. He has pirated
over a thousand billboards over the last 20 years, replacing existing advertisements with
his own hand-painted “subvertisements.” Ron is also a world-renowned painter whose
work is included in prominent collections, including the Museum of Contemporary Art in
Paris and the Whitney Museum in New York. Ron has designed murals for the
Guggenheim Children’s Fund and created an anti-drug campaign for the United Nations’
International Drug Control Program in Kazakhstan. Popaganda, The Art and Subversion
of Ron English, an art book chronicling Ron’s career, was published by Soft Skull Press
in 2001, and he is the subject of the documentary film THE ART AND CRIMES OF
RON ENGLISH.
FAITH 47 (South Africa)
Contemporary Cape Town diva Faith47 has a unique style of lettering and characters –
strong, soulful, African women with spunk, flair, and purpose. Her signature style
updates 1920s art nouveau poster art; an amalgamation of colors, detailed patterns,
eloquent female figures, and curvy, sexy lines that never end. Conscious of social and
political issues affecting the African continent as well as women’s rights, Faith47 is
involved in various workshops and empowerment programs. Faith47 traverses
photography, canvases, graphic design, digital illustration, and street art. If not
illustrating, painting, and traveling for exhibitions, she is co-directing Mattblack, a
creative studio that covers a range of media forms and intends to promote local flavor,
adding edge to South African design and illustration.
Cast
TOE
RETNA
SPETO
BETE NOBREGA
ZEPHYR
CORNBREAD
LORENZO MCKRAY
TAKI 183
POSE 2
LAVA AKA STRAIGHTMAN
TRACY 168
DJ TONY TONE
STAY HIGH 149
BG 183, TATS CRU
SKUF
KRS ONE
WEST
INDIE 184
DARIUS JONES
RAMMELZEE
BIO, TATS CRU
NIC ONE
COPE 2
LADY PINK
KET
KAP 1, TPA CREW
CHINO
FUCKIN REVS
LT. STEVE MONA
GEORGE L. KELLING
PETER VALLONE, JR.
DRO, ACC
NETA, ACC
2ESAE, ACC
CHIEF EDWIN YOUNG
CLAW
SUSAN A. PHILLIPS
SEAN
MARC ECKO
BLEK LE RAT
SHUCK 2
OPSE
CHIKHI
VERIM LEZORE
BEL-KIA
MICKEY
JAKE
SCAGE
SMASH
CHAZ of LONDON POLICE
TWO THINGS
BOB of LONDON POLICE
WAYNE HORSE
GALO
ZEDZ
DAIM
LOKISS
INKIE
SHOK 1
AROFISH
SIMON BAXTER
BRAD DOWNEY
BUDDY LEMBEK
KARL HENNIG
ADRIAN NABI
CBK CREW
KENOR
KODE
JUAN ZEDOU BUCREA
ZOSEN
ISABEL VALENCIA
SIXE
PEZ
EXTRA
KAFRE
KUZZ
PIKE
NUG
FALKO
MR. ICE
FAITH 47
WEALZ 130
MAK1 ONE
Community of KHAYALITSHA TOWNSHIP,
Cape Town, South Africa
CHARL JOHN VAN DER WESTHNIZEN
OS GEMEOS
KOYOK/COIO
ISE
VITCHE
NUNCA
NINA
ANTONIO VIZENCCI
WAG, PIGMEUS CREW
ZEZAO
TERESA
ANTONIO
VERY ONE
DISKAH
SHINZENTOMOTEL
BELX2
AUGOR
CHAZ BOJORQUEZ
ROBBIE CONAL
VYAL
TOOMER
TRIBE
JEL
DO
RESQ
REVOK
RUSSELL KINKSTON
VALERIE J. HILL
ELLIOT GREENE
JOE CONNOLLY
STEFANO E. BLOCH
T.A.G. ACTORS
CHRIS BROMS
RIME
ZESER
SHEPARD FAIREY
RON ENGLISH
JACOB
SONINHA MARMO
MEAR ONE
NEON
RENATO MUSA
SHARP
KID ACNE
BOLETA
Crew
Associate Producers
Harrison Bohrman
Alexis Forni
Lisa Garibay
Michelle Sullivan
Traci Glodery
Alex Smith
Additional Music Composed by
Mathematics
Illfonics
Web Presence Consultant
Michael Medaglia
DVD Extra Features Edited by
Erich Nemcek
Film Consultant
Thomas Harris
Technical Consultant
Christopher Keath
Music Consultants
Nathan Tape
Thorsten Sideboard
Brittany Somerset
Post Production Supervisor
David Woods
Associate Editors
Rachel Yee
Arshia Haq
Coordinators
Cassie Destino
Amanda Fletcher
Samantha Hatch
Jill Pike
Lead Assistant Editors
Rachel Conover
Gavin Percy
Todd Raleigh
Shane Willis
Ricardo de Laveaga
Anne Peterson
Assistant Editors
Esteban Arguello
Carlos Bonilla
Ismael Corpas
Deirdre Holmes
Christine Khalafian
Drew Kilcoin
John Lin
Donna Mathewson
John Moody
Eileen Nelson
Szu-Hua Wang
Aaron Zander
Online Content Consultant
Hung Nguyen
2nd Unit Director – Amsterdam, Paris, London
Nick Earp
2nd Unit Director - Sao Paulo
Gilberto Topczewski
Kristina Chikita
Unit Production Managers - Sao Paulo
Big Bonsai
Felipe Briso
Justine Otondo
Gilberto Topczewski
Unit Production Manager - Paris
Thibault Dufour
Unit Production Manager – Tokyo
Sakamaki Masa
Paris Unit for Kosmopolite 2005
Nick Earp
Yann Sida
Travel Coordinator
Jane Padget, Altour International
Additional Camera Operators
Jon Reiss
Hung Nguyen
Nathan Tape
Aaron Wilson
Gaffers
Luke Fisher
Ryan Griffith
Jon Reiss
Nathan Tape
Aaron Wilson
Michael Witzack
Production Sound
Jon Reiss
Online Editor
Andrew Wahlquist
Colorist
Leandro Marini
Post Producer
Doug Fox
Post Production Services
Local Hero
Production Assistants
James Garfield, Aurore Barry, Jared Feldschreiber,
Jared Raun, Moe Sugawara, Monica Vera
Layout Graphic Design
Heather Watts
Heather Parlato
Additional Title Design
Szu Hua Wang & Joel Spellman
Translators and Transcribers
Aidan Crawford, Al Lakomskis , Amanda Weiss, Amber Minogue, Anna Soares, Ari
Hoffman, Calder Greenwood, Carlos Miranda, Erika Tanigaki
Esteban Arguello, Evangelia Marie Kosmas, Isi Moll, Jeff Graham, Jeffrey Shih, Jenni
Powell , Juanita Dias Costa, Katheryne Thomas, Marcio Romani, Maura Milan,
Michelle Michelson, Nadine Khour, Nuria Rodriguez, Scott Cummings, Terrence Cho,
Tristan Tuckfield
Digitizers
Scott Ashby, April Gafni, Alexandra Lee, Zamin Mirza, Shervin Shafaie
Researchers
Charlie Cheshire, Tracy Goldstein, Andrew Harper, Hung Nguyen, Victoria Watson
Assistant to the Director
Amy Seibe
Co-Producer
Stephanie Inouye
Post Production Technical Advisor
Tom Cassel
Production Legal Services provided by
Linda Lichter
Jeff Springer
Michael Roban
Distribution Advisory Services
Cinetic Media
International Distribution
Katapult Film Sales
Accountant
Ann Kafesjian
Staff of Antidote Films:
Head of Development: Mike Andrus
Director of Operations: Takeo Hori
Production Supervisor: James Debbs
Office Manager: Gerry Kim
Post Production Audio Services Provided by
Supervising Sound Editor: Mark F. Kamps
Re-Recording Mixer: Kevin Roache
Sound Designer: Mark Kamps
Dialogue Editor: Jason Krane
Sound Effects Editor: Rodrigo Ortiz
Still Photography Provided by:
Anna Prokhorova, Anthony Manna, Big Time Magazine, Carolina Miranda, Carlos
Batts, Chaz Bojorquez, Dan Hassid, Chris Ledochowski, Douglas Ensel, Denis Gradel,
Frank Lynch, Duncan Cumming, Guy Tillim, Graeme Williams, John Naar, Joel,
Spellman, Koe Rodriguez, Ket, Laura Fries, Lionel Belluteau. Matthew Rose, Luke
Robinson, Nathan Dorr, Mike Lin, Stefanie Wildner, Nicolas Ganz, Stephen Schuster,
Paul Alberts, Susan Phillips, Roger Gastman, Sybille Prou, Tracy 168, Ignacio,
Aronovich Lost Art Brazil, Zephyr
South Photos/ The Bigger Picture
Freestockphotos.com
The New York Times
The Granger Collection, New York
“Supply and Demand: The Art of OBEY Giant”
While You Were Sleeping Magazine
Temple University Libraries, Urban Archives, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
T-KID 170 images courtesy of Righters.com and
From Here to Fame, from the book:
"The Nasty: Terrible T-Kid170” by Julius Cavero
Additional Footage provided by
Henry Chalfont Tony Silver Style Wars
1973 Super 8 Footage Filmed by Tracy 168
Carl Weston Videograff
“East London 5am CCTV Takedown” by Jess Scott Hunter
“King of the Line” by Pike and Nug
“POPaganda: The Art and Crimes of Ron English” by Pedro Caravajal
Ecko
CNN Image Source
Getty Images
ITN Source Archive
Streamline Films
Producers Library
Lady Pink clips courtesy Pow Wow Productions
“Liquid Silver Moments”
Written by Mat Ranson
Performed by Fisk Industries
Published by Highpoint Lowlife Records
Courtesy of Highpoint Lowlife Records
“Point of No Return”
Written and arranged by Immortal Technique
Performed by Immortal Technique
Courtesy of Immortal Technique Music, ASCAP
“Taking It Back”
Written by DJ Wise
Performed by DJ Wise
Published by DJ Wise
Courtesy of DJ Wise
“ARD”
Written by ARD
Performed by ARD
Published by ARD
Courtesy of ARD
"On Full Alert"
by Clayton Awful
Written & Produced by C. Nepveaux
Humid Sounds Music (ASCAP) 2007
“Fresher Than This”
Written by Tha Otha's
Performed by Tha Otha's
Published by Base 9 (ASCAP) & Lower Plateau Music (ASCAP)
Courtesy of www.base009.com
“Backdraft”
Written by: Michael Genato (ASCAP), James Ronaghan (BMI), Roy Dank (BMI)
Performed by: Mathematics
Published by: Check The Math Music (ASCAP) / Social Studies Music (BMI)
Courtesy of: Social Studies
“Routed To The Spot”
Written by: Ruaridh Law, David Donnelly
& Bryan Kerr
Performed by: The Marcia Blaine School For Girls
Published by: Highpoint Lowlife Records Courtesy of: Highpoint Lowlife Records
"The Leap and the Struggle (Remix)"
Written by: Bobby Moreno, Utavie Iniya
Additional Music by: Donovan Pyle
Performed by: DiMaggio of Project Pangaea
Courtesy of the Artist
"Drawing Lines"
by Clayton Awful.
Written, and Produced by C. Nepveaux
Humid Sounds Music (ASCAP) 2007
“Afro – Wearing”
Written by: Emile Jansen aka Emile YX?
Performed by: Emile Jansen & Black Noise
Published by: Mother City Records
Courtesy of: Cape Flats Uprising
“African Sun”
Written by: Emile Jansen aka Emile YX?
Performed by: Emile Jansen aka Emile YX?
Published by: Making Music Publishing
Courtesy of: Cape Flats Uprising
“Blind”
Written by: Eddie Symons
Performed by: Bovaflux
Published by: Highpoint Lowlife Records
Courtesy of: Highpoint Lowlife Records
“Know What I'm Saying”
Written by: Vogado / Combstock / Johnson
Performed by: Zero DB
Published by: Just Isn't Music
Courtesy of: Ninja Tune
“Backyard Betty”
Written by: N Hanks / A Epton
Performed by: Spank Rock
Published by: Just Isn't Music
Courtesy of: Big Dada
“Polska”
Written by: Mat Ranson
Performed by: Fisk Industries
Published by: Highpoint Lowlife Records
Courtesy of: Highpoint Lowlife Records
"Mil Sujetos"
Written by: Axel Ramon Perez Gonzales & Kendall Marsh
Performed by: Ghostman MC & mentalkm Published by: JWCT Songs
Courtesy of: Mental Music Productions
"Trucha"
Written by: Axel Ramon Perez Gonzales, Kendall Marsh & Javier Willy
Performed by: Ghostman MC, mentalkm
& Javier Willy
Published by: JWCT Songs
Courtesy of: Mental Music Productions
“And The Rockets Red Glare”
Written by: Keung
Performed by: Mandelbrot Set
Published by: Highpoint Lowlife Records
Courtesy of: Highpoint Lowlife Records
“Microfone”
Written by: Dr. Onionskin
Performed by: Dr. Onionskin
Published by: Base 009 (ASCAP)
Courtesy of: www.base009.com
“What’s The Picture”
Written by: Dr. Onionskin
Performed by: Dr. Onionskin
Published by: Base 009 (ASCAP)
Courtesy of: www.base009.com
“Supply and Demand”
Written by: Supreeme
Performed by: Supreeme
Published by: Record Collection Music
Courtesy of: Record Collection Music
This film was made possible in part by grants from:
The Annenberg Foundation
The Strauss Foundation
Production Assistance Provided by
Filmmaker's Alliance
California Institute for the Arts
Loyola Marymount University
Travis Wilkerson
Brian Mulchy
Fiscal Sponsorship provided by
The International Documentary Association
EXTRA SPECIAL THANKS
Jill Goldman, Sam and Lucie Reiss, Christopher Keath, Lauren Bon, Teri Schwartz, Liam
Finn, Amanda Sweikow, Kathleen McKinnis, Michael Roban, Nicholas Ganz, Brittany
Somerset, Faith 47, Remko Koopman
Special Thanks
Bently Tittle, Sadie Schiller, Roger Gastman, Linda Wissmath, Sanford Panitch, Janice
Van Wagner, Valerie J. Hill, David & Leslie Offer, Annika Nagy, Dan Halsted, Nic One
& Meres at 5 Pointz, Alexis Rockman, IDA
Jan Spivey at BCN Graffiti, Julia Stolis, Amos Poe, Maya De Rossi, Bram XIX, Susan
Farrel at Art Crimes, Darren Herczeg, Zephyr, Sharp, Karyn Rachtman, Jonathan
Kaslow, Adrian Nabi and BackJumps.org, Tony Silver, Henry Chalfont, Clint Cantwell,
Navid Daee, Andy Kaplan, Lance Weiler, Vicki and Max Kennedy, Elizabeth Ai, Marc
Ecko, Susan A Phillips, Thorsten Sideboard, Mush Records, Stefano E. Bloch, Baixo and
Marianna Ribeiro at Choque Cultural Gallery Brazil, Ignacio Aronovich at Lost Art,
Brazil, Kirby Dick, Gil Harari, KRS One, Simon Parker, Liz Peterson, Kenton Parker,
Amel and Andre Pain, Alex Rodriguez, Anne Clement, ResQ, Hugo Martinez, Martinez
Gallery, Caleb Neelson, Marc Felt at Rising Sonz, Dr. Peter McFarlane at PS 180,
Harlem, NYC, Mike Malbon, Jesse Nicely & Lynfaro Wajima at Frank 151, Man One
and everyone at CreWest
Belgique Bar, Amsterdam Apprendiz NGO, Sao Paulo Dr. Keith Damon &
Thomas Peiser at Overkill Shop, Berlin Aloe High School, Cape Town, South Africa
Tristan Manco Sticky Rick Grafiteria Gallery, Brazil
Grapixo Vandal Shop, Brazil, Richard Kovacs Merry Karnowsky Gallery sixspace
Gallery, Pediatrics 2000, DGA, Elizabeth Stanley, Michael Mailer, Norman Mailer, Katie
and Tommy McGloin, Akim Walta, Kay Sarlin, Joe Wiggins, Matt Harrison, Robert
Offer, Stash Maleski at I.C.U. Art, Brad Grossman, Adam Pilkington, Lyrica Allermoth,
Vivian Matito, Rabia Williams, Dana Jantz, UCLA East Asia Center, Daniel Mosher,
T.A.G., Jane Fitzgerald, Lisa Citron, Stuart Swezey, Chris and Susan Graves, Rick
Prelinger, Kady Leff, Monica Harmon, Miles Keylock, Elba Horta, Jesse Wheeler,
Trevor Algatt, Ben McCracken, King Adz, Lena Kasambalides, Lue One
And Thank You To All Who Participated in the Production
Chico Americo, Apex, Ash, Merire Aparecida S. Ceario, Fabrico Barbosa, BCome, Beam
Boys, Daniel Benevides, Billboard Liberation Front, Binho, Brush, Buffmonster, Cacau,
Calma, Can 2, CAT 87, Cent 7, CES, Chor, Boogie, Clyde, Coe 1, Juan Conde i del
Campo, Cre8, Csaw, Dan Witz, Delta, Dial 167, Diorn, Dios, Dokturwun, Claudio
Donato, Duce, El Done, El Mac, Elph, Justin Jupp- Encams, Esow, Fargo, FDT 56, Galo,
Celso, Gitahy, Great Bates, Guerilla Gardener, Idee, Infinity, Influenza, Jana Joana, Jay
BadBC, JJ Veronis, Jon One 156, Kaleb, Abdelrahman Katanani, Kboco, Keti, Kev Grey,
Kinsey, Lil Soul 159, London Police, Loomit, Make One STN/ Galo, Man One, Marka
27, Daniel Melim, Meres, Miedo, Miss Tic, Monsieur Andre, Terai Motokazu of
Komposition, Moze, MÖTUG: Monstas Of The Under Ground, Adam Neate, NESM,
Nick Walker, Nishiba, Noks, Numa Ramos, NYC Lase, Ovie, Ozeas Duarte, Parole, Pips
Lab, Play 1, Rameez, Rastym David Rawlings, Redman, Eymard Ribeiro of Apprendiz
NGO, Rolieo Rukus, Sace Gold, Gene Sansone, Richard Schwarz Sherm, Shuck One
(DCM), Shuck 2, Siloette, Skiet (AKA Conform), Skip, Skki, Slug Nation, Snake One,
Space Invader, Speed, Swoon, TATS Cru, Jorge Tavares, Toofly, Toomer. TPA Crew,
T.V. Boy, Two Things (Morcky & Boghe), Guilherme Valiengo, Iris Weinshall, Werc,
WK Interact
c. Bomb It, LLC 2007
www.bombit-themovie.com