Edward Brezinski worked alongside Keith Haring, David Wojnarowicz, and Jean-Michel Basquiat in the Lower East Side art scene, but never reached the same level of success as his contemporaries. MAKE ME FAMOUS uncovers why such a well-connected yet peculiar painter never made it, despite being so maniacally focused in his quest for fame. What begins as an investigation into Brezinski’s legacy and mysterious disappearance becomes a sharp, witty portrait of NYC’s 1980s downtown art scene.

Make Me Famous is a documentary that uses the life of an almost-legend – sneered at by some contemporaries, admired by others – as a springboard for a dive into a period in New York’s cultural history when “starving artists” reset the creative bar. Reflecting the New Wave mentality, then playing out in music, they created a community in studios in the city’s then-derelict Lower East Side. With little more than a DIY creative urge and practically no cash, the likes of Julian Schnabel would come home from his restaurant job with broken plates and put them together as a “canvas” for paintings. Brezinski’s home base, the Magic Gallery, was a decrepit apartment on Third Avenue, across from a men’s shelter. Fellow aspiring artists and gallerists created the beginnings of a “scene” that made some rich and famous, and left others behind. Through interviews, archival footage and hundreds of images – much that have never before been seen – Make Me Famous examines some of these intangibles through the recollections of some of the NYC Downtown scene’s most colorful figures. 

Stay after the film for a video chat Q+A with Director, Brian Vincent, and Producer, Heather Spore, of MAKE ME FAMOUS!

Ticket Price: $15

Doors Open: 7:00PM, Film Begins: 7:30PM