Our favourite graffiti movies and documentaries
- Text by Alex King
- Photography by Valerio Polici
Graffiti was the ultimate escape, reflects photographer Valerio Polici in Huck 51 – The Adventure Issue. Cutting his teeth bombing the mean streets of Rome, Europe’s underground scene became was his world.
Running from the authorities, living on your nerve, and forging lasting bonds with other writers, becomes an all consuming lifestyle, and the danger, the illegality of it all, pulls people in and keeps them coming back for more. Valerio has chronicled his former graffiti life through photographs and anecdotes in his awesome book Ergo Sum.
In this playlist, we collect the best street art movies and documentaries.
Bomb It
Stations of the Elevated
Style Wars
Wild Style
Gimme the Loot
Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child
Exit Through the Gift Shop
KCBR – Live Life Like
Piece By Piece: San Francisco Graffiti
Alter Ego
Kings and Toys
Bomber (King of Rotterdam)
New York Subway Graffiti Kings
Check out the full article in Huck 51 – The Adventure Issue. Grab a copy in the Huck Shop or subscribe today to make sure you don’t miss another issue.
You might like
A portrait of the UK’s oldest boxing club
Learning the Ropes — A new documentary by Ryan Pickard chronicles the hard-edged history of Repton Boxing Club in Bethnal Green, while asking poignant questions about the present and future of the sport in the UK.
Written by: Sydney Lobe
New film spotlights London’s Bubble Club, the party by people with learning disabilities
Radically inclusive clubbing — Produced by Muddled Marauders and currently fundraising for completion, the feature documentary focuses on the inclusive night, which has been in operation since 2005.
Written by: Roxana Diba
Sophie Green’s maximalist, technicolour vision of Britain’s fringes
Tangerine Dreams — The photographer has spent over a decade documenting the rituals, subcultures and social gatherings that form the collaged fabric of the UK’s society. A new exhibition at the Martin Parr Foundation celebrates her work and the communities she captures.
Written by: Roxana Diba
Jack Johnson’s third act
SURFILMUSIC — Three decades on from his trajectory-altering crash at Pipeline and subsequent music career, the singer-songwriter looks back at his life and work in a new, expansive film.
Written by: D’Arcy Doran
“I didn’t care if I got sacked”: Sleazenation’s Scott King in conversation with Radge’s Meg McWilliams
Radgenation — For our 20th Anniversary Issue, Huck’s editor Josh Jones sits down with the legendary art director and the founder of a new magazine from England’s northeast to talk about taking risks, crafting singular covers and disrupting the middle class dominance of the creative industries.
Written by: Josh Jones
Confronting America’s history of violence against student protest
Through A Mirror, Darkly — In May 1970, two separate massacres at American college campuses saw deaths at the hands of the state. Naeem Mohaiemen’s new three-channel film memorialises the brutality.
Written by: Miss Rosen
