Filmed in 1981 and released in 1983, director Charlie Ahearn's Wild Style chronicled the early days of the hip-hop scene in New York. The film follows a young graffiti artist (Lee Quiñones) pursued by a journalist (Patti Astor) intent on documenting this new blend of music and visual art.
The movie features appearances by hip-hop legends like Grandmaster Flash, Fab 5 Freddy and Adam Horowitz.
Wild Style has been newly restored in 4K and will screen at the BFI London Film Festival on October 8th and 9th. It will be released on 4K UHD and bluray and stream exclusively on Arrow Player from December 1st.
Check out the new trailer and poster below.
The official synopsis reads:
In early 1980s New York City, independent filmmaker Charlie Ahearn and downtown artist Fred Brathwaite ventured uptown with the aim of capturing an exciting new underground scene that was happening in the South Bronx, a scene that featured graffiti artists, breakdancing b-boys, and two turntables and a microphone. The result was Wild Style, and to many viewers it was their first glimpse of the musical and cultural phenomenon called hip hop.In this unique hybrid of fiction and documentary, the story of lone graffiti artist Lee "Zoro" Quinones trying to achieve success on his own terms is brought to vivid life with support by Fred “Fab 5 Freddy” Brathwaite, Sandra “Lady Pink” Fabara and Patti Astor, and with historic music performances by such luminaries as Grandmaster Flash, Busy Bee, The Fantastic Five and The Cold Crush Brothers. To create the score, Chris Stein (Blondie) would collaborate with Brathwaite to produce the actual breakbeats to be used in the film, an inspired decision that would provide a source of obsession among crate diggers for decades to come.
