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Make Me Famous

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1:36

Make Me Famous

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1h 33m

Documentary

Biography

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100%

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32 Reviews

97%

Popcornmeter

100+ Ratings

This documentary brings forward a popular era while unearthing many artists, photographers, and stories that you may not already know. The 1980s art scene is famous for break-out artists like Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring, but there were many other artists who made a powerful impact. Make Me Famous is the story of the Lower East Side art movement through an unknown artist, fully allowing the creativity itself to take centerstage. Set during arguably the last great art explosion in American history, Make Me Famous tells the story of unknown painter, Edward Brezinski in his quest for fame. Our film gives an intimate portrait of what it was like to be an artist in N.Y.C. in the 1980s. It delves into the spirit of the artists themselves, what drove their generation and what they were up against. Make Me Famous follows the talented Edward Brezinski as he famously eats a Donut from a Robert Gober sculpture at the Paula Cooper Gallery and all that follows. Through a real time investigation in the South of France, we unearth the truth about what happened to Brezinski and his mysterious death in the Côte d'Azur.

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Critics Consensus

Make Me Famous brings notoriety to its subject and his peers while delivering a gritty time capsule of New York City's art scene before it was gentrified.

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Kimberley Jones

Austin Chronicle

Juicy archival footage of stylish scenemakers and art shows held in tenement slums is paired with dishy interviews with Brezinski’s contemporaries.

Apr 7, 2025

Full Review

Adam Graham

Detroit News

The conditions of life — "everyone was living in garbage," says one of Brezinski's contemporaries — are romanticized in director Brian Vincent's portrait of an artist living on the edge.

Rated: B-

Sep 27, 2023

Full Review

Leslie Felperin

Guardian

A touching look at halcyon period in New York history, before the last shabby corners of Manhattan were gentrified beyond all recognition.

Rated: 3/5

Feb 13, 2023

Full Review

Joonatan Itkonen

Toisto.net

Make Me Famous is an island in time that beautifully captures the desperate passion, artistry, delusion, and hedonism of the 1980s art scene in New York.

Rated: 4/5

Apr 28, 2025

Full Review

Eddie Harrison

film-authority.com

…Edward Brzezinski’s untold story gets a welcome platform from director Brian Vincent and producer Heather Spore. You might not have heard of the artist, but you’ll probably recognise the NYC gallery scene in this evocative, entertaining documentary...

Rated: 4/5

Apr 23, 2025

Full Review

Laura Hiros

Rincón de cine

If you are a lover of art and stories about people who are ready to question status quo, then you can't miss this irreverent documentary [Full Review in Spanish

Rated: 4/5

Apr 19, 2025

Full Review

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Mary Kay Yezerski

This film was a fantastic look into the world of the Downtown art scene in the 80s. The film brought a certain lightness to an era that sometimes can come across a bit serious. The interviews of the supporting cast added to the levity in telling the stories of the time. Its amazing that they remember anything with all the drugs and drinking. Very well documented. The filmmakers were obviously personally interested in this story and it shows on the screen.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

08/16/23

Full Review

TONY A

An artist friend told me about this film which he thought I may like since I lived in lower Manhattan during the period the film explored. He was absolutely right. It's a fascinating and well crafted documentary film that uses the obscure East Village 80's artist's, Edward Brezinski, quest for fame and money to tell the bigger story of the art culture and scene at time that produced the big names, Haring, Basquiat etc., and the complex ambitious drive for success and recognition and how that is defined and played out amongst a fascinating group of fringe artists living amongst the squalor of the pre-gentrified and fashionable East Village. Using interviews with the living key players of the period's art scene, video footage of art events, and photographs, the film creates a cinematic experience for those who remember that time and for those curious to "retro see" what it was like, while also solving the mystery of who was Edward Brezinski and what happened to him.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

08/12/23

Full Review

Colleen

Such a great story, and so well told!! Loved everything about this depiction of an incredibly special time in NYC!!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

07/16/23

Full Review

elaine ellman

Terrific doc with visuals and editing providing the recognizable art world atmosphere of the time interesting for those who were there in the '80s and for those who missed out.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

07/16/23

Full Review

Pat D

The story that this documentary told took us back in time to a New York, that no longer exists. In fact, it all felt much more like a narrative story than documentary Never dull or boring, and the place that Edward Brezinski now holds in modern art has context and feels much richer today.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

07/02/23

Full Review

Ren NYC

Brian Vincent and Heather Spore take us back to a different time in the New York art scene. The grit of NYC in the 80s was part of the times. Artist did their thing without influencers or social media but then again they were the original influencers and social media artist. As an artist myself, the desire for fame lingers in the back of my mind. Always out of reach. Trying to find a way. A well done documentary that might awaken your artistic soul.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

07/02/23

Full Review

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Brian Vincent

Director

Edward Brezinski

Self

David McDermott

Self

James Romberger

Self

Marguerite Van Cook

Self

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Make Me Famous: Trailer 1

1:36

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Synopsis

This documentary brings forward a popular era while unearthing many artists, photographers, and stories that you may not already know. The 1980s art scene is famous for break-out artists like Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring, but there were many other artists who made a powerful impact. Make Me Famous is the story of the Lower East Side art movement through an unknown artist, fully allowing the creativity itself to take centerstage. Set during arguably the last great art explosion in American history, Make Me Famous tells the story of unknown painter, Edward Brezinski in his quest for fame. Our film gives an intimate portrait of what it was like to be an artist in N.Y.C. in the 1980s. It delves into the spirit of the artists themselves, what drove their generation and what they were up against. Make Me Famous follows the talented Edward Brezinski as he famously eats a Donut from a Robert Gober sculpture at the Paula Cooper Gallery and all that follows. Through a real time investigation in the South of France, we unearth the truth about what happened to Brezinski and his mysterious death in the Côte d'Azur.

Director: Brian Vincent
Producer: Heather Spore, Brian Vincent
Distributor: Red Splat Productions
Genre: Documentary, Biography
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jun 22, 2023, Limited
Runtime: 1h 33m