Exit Through the Gift Shop

---

# Do you know why #

# You got feelings

in your heart? #

# Don't let fear of me

then fool you #

# What you see sets you apart #

# And there's nothing here

to bind you #

# It's no way

for life to start #

# Do you know that tonight

the streets are ours? #

# Tonight the streets are ours #

# These lights in our hearts #

# They tell no lies #

# Those people #

# They got nothing

in their souls #

# And they make our TVs

blind us #

# From our vision

and our goals #

# Oh, the trigger of time #

# It tricks you

so you have no way to grow #

# But do you know that tonight

the streets are ours? #

# These lights in our street

are ours #

# Tonight the streets are ours #

# These lights in our hearts #

# They tell no lies #

Okay.

Sound check, please.

One, two.

One, two.

Okay.

One, two.

- Comfortable?

- Yep.

So, um, I guess I'll start off

by asking you about the film.

What is the film?

Uh, well, the film is the story

of what happened when this guy

tried to make

a documentary about me,

but he was actually a lot more

interesting than I am,

so now the film

is kind of about him.

I mean, it's not

Gone with the Wind,

but there's probably a moral

in there somewhere.

So who is this guy?

MALE NARRATOR:

"This guy" was Thierry Guetta,

a Frenchman who had been living

in Los Angeles

since emigrating

to the United States

in the early 1980s.

A regular family man,

Thierry owned

a vintage clothing store

in the city's most bohemian

shopping district,

and he made a good living

selling his wares

to L.A.'s more fashion-conscious

citizens.

At that time,

I used to buy old Adidas

and old things

and, you know, things

you couldn't find here:

shoes, bags.

And I had a warehouse

with big bales of these clothes,

and we used to buy these

for $50.

I used to take things that,

when the sewing was different,

I call it designer,

and I'd put the price

that is $400.

So from $50,

sometimes I could make $5,000.

NARRATOR:
But there was

one very unusual thing

about Thierry.

He never went anywhere

without a video camera.

I don't know

how the video camera

came into my hand,

but I know the moment

it came inside my hand,

I couldn't let it down,

ever.

It was like more than any drugs

to anybody.

It was obsession.

When I picked up the camera,

I couldn't do anything

without capturing it.

I'd keep filming,

keep filming, keep filming.

I was filming and filming myself

filming me.

It didn't stop.

It just didn't stop.

Ooh...

In my own house,

when the kids grow up,

I had cameras set up everywhere.

I was completely maxed

with camera.

Even taking pictures,

he would do it like...

you know, like, he was using

even the picture camera

like he would use

the video camera.

He was pretty much obsessed.

He filmed constantly...

tapes and tapes and tapes.

Aaaagh!

NARRATOR:
As time passed,

those who knew Thierry

stopped even noticing

his ever-present camera,

while everyone else soon learned

how determined he could be.

Can I take one picture

before I go?

You know what?

We're working right now.

One picture, yeah.

All right, go ahead.

- Oh, no, no, no.

- Thanks.

Thanks.

C'est Shaq.

Hey, how you doing?

What you doin', bud?

a va?

Say hello to the French people.

Hello, French people.

That's enough.

Stop recording.

That's good.

That's good.

When you gonna film

someone else?

Yeah, man, I do.

- Eh?

- I do.

Why don't you go

and do it now?

Because it's not every day

that I see you.

Thud!

NARRATOR:
Thierry seemed

happy enough selling clothes

and pointing his camera

at anything that moved

until in 1999,

on a family holiday to France,

a chance discovery

sent Thierry's life

in a dramatic new direction.

My cousin, at that time,

he was an artistic...

you know, he was putting

mosaics together

and trying to do the game

of Space Invaders,

re-creating the character,

kind of way.

So I film him.

So this is what you're doing?

I need to put

some white ones here...

Yeah, yeah, that'll be crazy.

It was kind of fun,

because he was, like,

doing some tile, very small,

and putting it on top

of couple building,

and I thought

it was really nice,

to put some stuff

that you love,

something that you want

to express yourself,

and put it outside

and people can see it.

It's not straight! Up a bit.

A bit more

on the other side now.

There you go. That's good.

NARRATOR:
Thierry's cousin

was Space Invader,

a major player

in an explosive new movement

that would become known

as street art.

This hybrid form of graffiti

was driven by a new generation

using stickers, stencils,

posters, and sculptures

to make their mark

by any means necessary.

With the arrival

of the internet,

these once-temporary works

could be shared by an audience

of millions.

Street art was poised

to become the biggest

countercultural movement

since punk,

and Thierry had landed

right in the middle of it.

When I was with Thierry,

Thierry was with his camera,

and he was filming me

all the time,

but when people were asking me

what this guy's doing,

I was saying, "It's okay;

it's my cousin. "

And generally,

people were thinking,

"Oh, this guy is cool. "

Like, "Let him film. "

- Is this your job or what?

- It's my passion.

So what do you do

for a living?

This and that.

But right now,

I'm having a break.

Through my cousin,

I met Andr.

Andr has this character

that is a smiling face

that's blinking an eye

and, you know, with,

like, long legs

and walking everywhere,

you know,

like kind of

a cartoon character.

When I met Zeus,

he was, like, painting, like,

shadows on the streets

of different things.

I liked to capture those people

because I thought it was nice,

what they were doing,

and they really believe it.

You know, they really loved it.

I started to really see, like,

a gallery outside.

Don't walk all over the paint.

I'm trying not to.

I just loved it, you know,

filming at night

and street,

because it was, like,

a mix of fears

and getting something

that nobody sees,

and somewhere you

and... illegal,

and you can get caught,

you know?

So it was, like, that feeling

that it was, like, a danger,

and I like that.

You know, I like the danger.

You know, it made me feel good.

NARRATOR:
Thierry had

accidentally found a focus.

The man who would film anything

had stumbled into

an intriguing underground world,

and now that he had found it,

he wasn't about to let it go.

I guess Thierry

was in the right place

at the right time,

really.

I mean, the thing is

that most all art

is built to last, like,

hundreds of years.

It's cast in bronze,

or it's oil on canvas,

but street art

has a short lifespan,

so it needed documenting.

You know, we all needed someone

who knew how to use a camera.

F***.

NARRATOR:
A few months later,

Invader visited Los Angeles

for the first time,

giving Thierry the chance

to pursue his new passion

on home turf.

Uh-oh.

Quickly, quickly, it's the cops!

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes