Madman proudly presents the Australian release of Exit Through the Gift Shop, the first film by world famous street artist, Banksy.

As a personal introduction, Banksy’s penned a letter for the world premiere of his debut feature film at Sundance went a little something like this…..

“Ladies and gentlemen, and publicists: Trying to make a movie which truly conveys the raw thrill and expressive power of art is very difficult. So we haven’t bothered. Instead, this is simply an everyday tale of life, longing, and mindless vandalism. Everything you are about to see is true, especially the bit where we all lie. Thanks for coming, please don’t give away the ending on Twitter. And please, don’t try copying any of this stuff at home, wait until you get to work.”

And so it goes that the artist, political commentator and social prankster known as Banksy makes his foray into cinema by doing exactly what he does best, warping reality into something much more fun!

In this, the world’s first street art disaster movie, Banksy becomes the prize catch of Thierry Guetta, a French shop-keep turned videographer who becomes obsessed with finding and filming the elusive painter. Also featuring the likes of Shephard Fairey (Obey), Space Invader and a slew of street art luminaries, Exit Through the Gift Shop totally delivers – a funny, raucous (and cautionary) tale on art, ambition and the cult of celebrity.

Despite the city’s unconditional cultural embrace of street art, Banksy’s work has had a somewhat chequered past in Melbourne – with his Little Diver being maliciously vandalised, then quietly resurrected again as a replica at an unknown date in April 2010.

Most recently, Banksy’s infamous parachuting rat in Hosier Lane (Melbourne) was accidentally rubbed out by a graffiti clean-up crew. Again, replicas are beginning to spring up all over the city. As of Wednesday 28th April, the Lord Mayor Robert Doyle has extended an open invitation for Banksy to return to Melbourne and has also floated the option of commissioning a new work.

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To celebrate the Australian release of Exit Through The Gift Shop, Madman would like to giveaway two prize packs to a couple of lucky readers of the Leeloo blog.  Prize packs include two DVD’s and one  movie poster and we have two prize packs to give away!

The the first of the two DVD’s is Beautiful Losers, a documentary about the group of American artists who began their careers in the 1990s including Spike Jonze, Mike Mills and other musicians and artists.  The second is a film called RASH, a documentary about modern Melbourne street artists.

To enter, simply let us know in the comments section of this blog post, the name of the Banksy stencil artwork recently removed by accident from Melbourne’s Hosier Lane by a clean-up crew.  Winner will be drawn randomly from the correct answers on Tuesday 1st June.

Exit Through the Gift Shop has premiered in both Sundance and Berlin film festivals and has opened to acclaim in the U.K. and the U.S.   Exit Through The Gift Shop opens in Australia nationally on June 3rd to limited release at varied times and locations, so check your local guides for details.

Text, graphics and video used with permission.

EDIT: Winners are Jambo Chameleon and Jon Vincent