Basquiat

Through their view of the city on the Hudson, the big names of the American author's movie have shaped the picture of New York that generations of viewers worldwide hold stored in their memories. Their stories, however, have also become a true school of urban sensibility. In their films, the anonymity of the big city is not a threat but a promise of good fortune – the prospect of random encounters, the possibility of alternative life-paths.

Basquiat

D: Julian Schnabel, USA 1996, 106 min, German subtitles

Discovered by Andy Warhol in 1979, the graffiti artist Jean-Michel Basquiat rose to dizzying heights in 1980s New York. Julian Schnabel, a respected painter himself, creates a sensitive film with a sterling cast – including David Bowie as Warhol – about a figure who made it from the gutter to the ice-cold peak of the art business.