PRESS

“A breakthrough documentary.”

—A.O. SCOTT, THE NEW YORK TIMES

NEWS

REVIEWS

“The best hip hop film ever made. Reveals hip hop in its purest state, capturing it before it was part of pop culture and a source of revenue for major corporate entities. The film shows the innocence of these young innovators who are considered forefathers of a movement bigger than they could have ever imagined. A superb job of showing the bond between the different elements, displaying how the art, music and dance are interchangeable and maintain a close symbiotic relationship.”
—Insomniac—DVD Highlights

“Evocative. Unforgettable. Style Wars emanates joy from both sides of the camera. A film that vibrates with the energy, poetry and color of an art form rising up from the streets. The two-disc DVD gives the film the deluxe treatment it deserves. Best DVD of the Year.”
—Nathan Rabin, The Onion

“The spark that lit a flame that continues to burn. Style Wars is a crucial point of history.”
—Andre Torres, Wax Poetics

“A remarkable document of graffiti culture at its apex. After seeing Style Wars, one can’t help but long for a bit of the chaos and creativity of the graffiti years.”
—Martin Edlund, New York Sun

“The Holy Grail of hip-hop movies.”
—XLR8R

“Visually the movie is as stunning as the film’s subjects are fascinating. And the accompanying soundtrack is used to amazing effect.”
—Brian Coleman, URB

“The importance of the film is even greater now than when it was released.”
—David Jakubiak, Chicago Sun-Times

“Talk about groundbreaking films: Style Wars, a documentary about graffiti artists, was first broadcast by PBS. A prescient study of taggers, their exuberant art and the roots of hip-hop culture.”
—Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal

5 Stars—Highest Rating! The best hip hop culture study ever made.”
—Stuart Derdeyn, Vancouver Province.

“A stunning achievement. The mother and son constitute one of the most deeply human encounters I know of on film.”
—Ronald Gottesman, Professor of English, University of Southern California

“Captures this vibrant street culture with one of the most revelatory documents of the times.”
—Ethan LaCroix, Time Out New York

“Remarkable! A movie that, per KRS-One, ‘anybody who wants to understand hip hop needs to see.’ Also anyone who wants to understand New York, and a lot more.”
—Premiere

“Hip hop’s Rosetta Stone.”
—VIBE

“Groundbreaking and nearly perfect, a heady slice of Americana. It’s the kids themselves who speak most eloquently to their work.”
—Mark Savlov, Austin Chronicle

AWARDS

WINNER

Grand Prize for Documentaries, Sundance Film Festival 1984
Chicago, Houston and Athens Film Festivals
Grand Prize, Montreal Festival of Films on Art
Prized Pieces Award, National Black Programming Consortium

OFFICIAL SELECTION

RiverRun Film Festival, Cinema Paradise/Honolulu 2004
Tribeca Film Festival, New York 2003
Edinburgh International Film Festival 2003
Stockholm International Film Festival 2003
Oulu (Finland) Music Film & Video Festival 2003
H2O International Film Festival (New York) 2003
Bergen (Norway) International Film Festival 2003
Barcelona In-Edit Music Film Festival (Audience Award) 2003
Black Soil Film Festival (Rotterdam) 2003
Walker Art Center, Siskel Film Center, International House of Philadelphia 2003
REVelation Film Festival (Perth, Australia) 2002
Official Selection, Toronto and Sydney International Film Festivals

TELEVISED SHOWINGS

Broadcast on PBS, Channel Four (UK) and Western Europe.

WEB AWARDS

The Style Wars flash website was the People’s Voice Winner at the 2006 Webby Awards. Site coming soon!

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CHECK OUT WHO’S SAMPLING STYLE WARS.

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