Official Banksy movie poster.

At Label Networks, we’ve run many stories on Banksy and attended several of his shows. But the artist whose work often makes fun of current political or economic situations, and is always a bit controversial ranging from post-hurricane New Orleans to the Palestinian segregation wall in the West Bank, continues to redefine the world in terms of what we see as art and why we live the lives that we do.

The Bristol-born secret graffiti artist seems to also be a master at underground marketing. Banksy just released his official poster art for his film debut, “Exit Through the Gift Shop” featuring a homeless guy pushing the Mona Lisa in front of an old bank building in Soho. The hype for this film, like his secret shows, is enormous -in the subcultures of street art and entertainment. The film was a major hit at the Sundance Film Festival in January, and will be released in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York on Friday, April 16th.

“Exit Through the Gift Shop” is the story of how an eccentric French shop keeper and amateur filmmaker attempted to locate and befriend Banksy, only to have the artist turn the camera back on its owner with spectacular results. Billed as ‘the world’s first street art disaster movie’ the film contains exclusive footage of Banksy, Shepard Fairey, Space Invader, Andre and many of the world’s most infamous graffiti artists at work. It’s one of those documentary/satires that could only be done by someone on the inside, with access to these artists.

According to Banksy, “It’s the story of how one man set out to film the un-filmable. And failed.“