“Basquiat” by Julian Schnabel

Friday 28 February, h19:00 – Scala Cinema, St. Moritz

A special screening in collaboration with Hauser and Wirth and Vito Schnabel Gallery.

2024 · Black & White restored version · USA · EN · 108 min

No painter electrified the 1980s art scene like Jean-Michel Basquiat, a New York street kid whose visionary blending of expressionism, pop art, and the radical new aesthetics of hip-hop and graffiti propelled him to international fame before a tragic early demise. Julian Schnabel’s stunning debut charts Basquiat’s dizzying rise and fall with an insider’s eye for authentic details of the downtown arts demimonde as well as a fellow postmodernist’s interest in the dream-like and surreal. Jeffrey Wright’s brilliant introductory performance provides trenchant insight into the artist’s creative passions and personal demons. Cemented by David Bowie as a spot-on Andy Warhol, Basquiat’s supporting cast is a murderers’ row of Hollywood legends and art lovers (Dennis Hopper, Gary Oldman, Benecio del Toro, Parker Posey, Christopher Walken, Willem Dafoe) lending their talents to one of the high points of 90s independent cinema, an intimate elegy for a once-in-a-generation artistic phenomenon.

CREDITS
Directed by Julian Schnabel
Written by Lech Majewski, John Bowe, Julian Schnabel, Michael Holman
Produced by Jon Kilik, Randy Ostrow, Sigurjon Sighvatsson

CAST
Jean-Michel Basquiat: Jeffrey Wright
Andy Warhol: David Bowie
Benny Dalmau: Benicio del Toro
Bruno Bischofberger: Dennis Hopper
Albert Milo: Gary Oldman
Rene Ricard: Michael Wincott
Gina Cardinale: Claire Forlani
Mary Boone: Parker Posey
Big Pink: Courtney Love
Annina Nosei: Elina Löwensohn
Henry Geldzahler: Paul Bartel
Cynthia Kruger: Tatum O’Neal
Interviewer: Christopher Walken
Electrician: Willem Dafoe
Deli counterman: Michael Badalucco
Thug: Sam Rockwell