Basquiat: Black and White Version (Restorations & Rediscoveries)

Programmed in partnership with Amherst College LitFest 2025. Tickets are free to those with Amherst College ID. To obtain tickets, present a valid Amherst College ID in-person at the Box Office. Tickets are available now and issued on a first-come, first-served basis, one per person.

New 4K restoration.

No painter electrified the 1980s art scene like Jean-Michel Basquiat, a New York street kid whose visionary blending of expressionism, pop art, and the radical new aesthetics of hip-hop and graffiti propelled him to international fame before a tragic early demise.

Julian Schnabel’s stunning debut charts Basquiat’s dizzying rise and fall with an insider’s eye for authentic details of the downtown arts demimonde as well as a fellow postmodernist’s interest in the dream-like and surreal. Jeffrey Wright’s brilliant introductory performance provides trenchant insight into the artist’s creative passions and personal demons.

Cemented by David Bowie as a spot-on Andy Warhol, Basquiat’s supporting cast is a murderers’ row of Hollywood legends and art lovers (Dennis Hopper, Gary Oldman, Benicio del Toro, Parker Posey, Christopher Walken, Willem Dafoe) lending their talents to one of the high points of 90s independent cinema, an intimate elegy for a once-in-a-generation artistic phenomenon.

BASQUIAT was released on August 9, 1996, to positive reviews. Not only has it remained a perceptive portrayal of the glitz and grime of the art world, but it has also become a cult classic of American independent cinema’s daring peak, when innovative forms and stories were enthusiastically received by audiences on the lookout for the next challenge.

In 2024, overseen by Schnabel, BASQUIAT was restored in a new version in black and white, featuring a color sequence for its coda.