Burn bright enough and you’ll be remembered forever, no matter how tragically short your life is cut. Such was the fate of game-changing artist Jean-Michel Basquiat – friend of Madonna, Grace Jones, Debbie Harry, Keith Haring and Andy Warhol – who blazed an indelible trail before joining the infamous 27 Club. But when legend envelops your legacy, with Basquiat’s brilliantly bold works going for as much as US$110 million, the truth can get lost. Viridiana Lieberman and Quinn Whitney Wilson’s iridescent documentary sets the record straight.
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Australian Premiere.
Director
Quinn Whitney Wilson
Viridiana Lieberman
Runtime
95 Minutes
Country
United States
Classification
Unclassified 15+
Unlike Vincent van Gogh, the incomparable artist and iconoclast Jean-Michel Basquiat lived just long enough to reap the benefits of his street art-born, gallery-bound creative practice, which ignited an eternal flame during the more-is-more era of ’80s Manhattan. Hanging with the likes of Keith Haring and Andy Warhol, alongside pop royalty including Grace Jones, Debbie Harry and Madonna, Basquiat made a fortune. But his ongoing battle with heroin addiction would cut short his astonishingly accomplished life at only 27 years. With a loss this cruel, mythologising takes hold, blurring fact and fictions both external and self-spun. The editor of Oscar-nominated Perfect Neighbor (2025) Viridiana Lieberman and co-director Quinn Whitney Wilson’s equal parts energising and elegiac documentary cuts through the noise to reveal who Basquiat truly was. With unrivalled access to the family archives and deeply personal insights from the late artist’s sisters Lisane Basquiat and Jeanine Heriveaux, Jean-Michel Basquiat is priceless.
“The Jean-Michel Basquiat documentary we’ve been waiting for - the fantastic one he deserves.”
Variety
“Jean-Michel Basquiat never loses sight of the person behind the iconography … a moving tribute to one of the most influential artists of our time.”
Next Best Picture
Tribeca - Best Editing in a Documentary Feature
Film Credits
Director
Quinn Whitney Wilson & Viridiana Lieberman
Year
2026
Country
United States
Type
Feature Documentary
Program Strand
Feature Documentary Competition
Producer
Jordan Wynn, Andrew Fried, Harlin Lawal, Lana Barkin, Dane Lillegard, Ileen Sheppard Gallagher, Will Cohen, Quinn Whitney Wilson & David Laven
Cinematographer
Jo Jo Lam
Editor
Rebecca Adorno Dávila & Viridiana Lieberman
Music
James William Blades
Film Source
Netflix
Genre
Art, BIPOC, Documentary & LGBTQIA+
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