Film in line for an Oscar
LIMERICK’S Brian Cross, AKA as B+ and now living in Los Angeles, woke to the news that a film in which he was one of four cameramen, had been nominated in the Best Documentary Feature category for the Oscars.
The film, ‘Exit Through The Gift Shop’, tracks the attempt of an eccentric French shopkeeper and an amateur filmmaker to locate and befriend the notorious street artist known as Bansky.
One week earlier, the film was nominated for a BAFTA in the category of Outstanding Debut. Thus far, it has won at the Cinema Eye Awards, the American Cinema Editors Awards and the Online Film Critics Society Awards.
Brian, originally from the Dublin road, moved to Los Angeles to study photography in 1990 after completing a degree in painting at the National College of Art and Design.
He directed music videos for DJ Shadow, Nitro Microphone Underground and Control Machete. He also directed the timeless, Brasilintime and Keepintime documentary series. In his spare time, he DJs and regularly returns to Limerick to play sets at Mickey Martins and Dolan’s.
He told the Limerick Post:
“I know Banksy for many years and indeed, I was involved in curating his first show in LA. He called me about the Mister Brainwash Project, as it was initially named. I was in Brazil and the way he explained it I remember getting off the phone, laughing and saying – Well that’s never going to happen. When I returned to LA, we met up and pretty much started straight away.
“ I was surprised they managed to make such an honest film out of such a convoluted story. It is a completely unique film in that it is a story of a social movement “Street Art,” as told by one of its founding figures”.
Brian will soon be back in Limerick again doing gigs.
Exit Through The Gift Shop is available to Rent/Buy on DVD/Blu Ray.
