'Make Me Famous,' a documentary on 1980s-era East Village-based painter Edward Brezinski, finally gets an East Village screening

After screenings in NYC and elsewhere over the past year, "Make Me Famous" is finally playing in the neighborhood where the documentary is set — the East Village.

Starting on Saturday, Village East by Angelika will screen the film three times at the theater on Second Avenue and 12th Street.

"Make Me Famous" is: 

... a madcap romp through the 1980s NYC art scene amid the colorful career of painter, Edward Brezinski, hell-bent on making it. What begins as an investigation into Brezinski's legacy and mysterious disappearance becomes a sharp, witty portrait of NYC’s 1980s downtown art scene resulting in an irresistible snapshot of an unknown artist who captures the spirit of an iconic era. 

Director Brian Vincent and Producer Heather Spore will be at the following screenings with these special guests: 

• July 27, 5 p.m. 

Photographer Marcia Resnick, photographer Josef Astor, archival cinematographer Jim C 

• July 31, 7 p.m. Filmmaker and photographer Timothy Greenfield-Sanders and curator and archivist Sur Rodney (Sur)

• Aug. 1, 7 p.m. Artist Peter McGough and Basquiat's first gallerist Annina Nosei 

Find ticket information here.

Brezinski and CLICK models for NY TALK Magazine, 1984, photo by Jonathan Postal

From 543 E. Sixth St.: B-Side Gallery Opening, 1984, photo by Gary Azon 

In the past year, I've been in touch with Spore and Vincent (past posts here). I asked them both to comment on the film's EV premiere. 

Heather 

Our dream was to open in the neighborhood, but when you do your own theatrical run with no help from a distributor, you have to roll with the punches. Our indie documentary has had an incredible yet unprecedented run in theaters going now for over a year.

Back in the 1980s, indie cinemas were more likely to take chances on local filmmakers, and films often had long runs. Does anybody remember "Basket Case"? First-time director Frank Henenlotter shot it locally in 1982 and ran for several years at the Waverly Cinema (now IFC). 

"Make Me Famous" has defied the odds in this current film landscape and maintained a presence in New York City for over a year. We might very well be the most successful film you have never heard of! I can't believe it took us a whole year to screen in the neighborhood we dreamed of starting at! 

The major New York press turned their backs on us because we had an unconventional run. This was surprising to us, considering this really is a love letter to the creativity that burst out of the Lower East Side in the 1980s. Although it would have been nice to be in The New York Times — we made it without them.

I feel like our journey of DIY distribution has been very apropos, considering the artists of 1980s East Village followed the same path, really. They did it themselves, and look at what they accomplished!

Brian

I am a Juilliard-trained actor who was too young to experience the 1980s scene. I discovered it through books like Cynthia Carr's "Fire in the Belly" about David Wojnarowicz. So, I looked for a story that explores this era, when young people made their own scene after being rejected by the mainstream.

In the 1980s, NYC was broke, rent was dirt cheap, and anyone could act out their bohemian fantasies — and they did by the hundreds! As actor Eric Bogosian recalls, "The premium was on who could do the most creative things."

In "Make Me Famous," thanks to the artists and gallerists who lived it, we return to "the scene of the crime," as the artists like to call it. And thanks to their fantastic video/artwork and photographs, the audience is immersed in the gritty action. Only we take an unusual path. Instead of documenting the famous artists for the millionth time, our story revolves around an obscure, mysterious, and charismatic painter from the scene, Edward Brezinski, whose career, in many ways, parallels the rise and fall of the scene. 

The doc is not intended to be a promo but rather an opportunity to experience what it was like to be a striving artist back then. It was a NYC moment that captured the world's attention, produced some of its biggest stars, and then exploded into history like a supernova. 

 And the official trailer...