''Bomb It'' is an international

graffiti Graffiti (plural; singular ''graffiti'' or ''graffito'', the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from s ...

and

street art Street art is visual art created in public locations for public visibility. It has been associated with the terms "independent art", "post-graffiti", "neo-graffiti" and guerrilla art. Street art has evolved from the early forms of defiant graff ...

documentary directed by

Jon Reiss Jon Reiss is a film producer and director, and an author. He has made the feature film ''Cleopatra's Second Husband'' (1998) and the documentaries '' Better Living Through Circuitry'' (1999) and '' Bomb It'' (2007). He has directed music vi ...

that premiered at the 2007

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by TriBeCa Productions, Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive progra ...

. Filmed on five continents, featuring cities such as

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

and

Sao Paulo SAO or Sao may refer to: Places * Sao civilisation, in Middle Africa from 6th century BC to 16th century AD * Sao, a town in Boussé Department, Burkina Faso * Saco Transportation Center (station code SAO), a train station in Saco, Maine, U.S ...

, ''Bomb It'' explores the interplay between worldwide graffiti movements, the global proliferation of "Quality of Life" laws, and the fight for control over

public space A public space is a place that is open and accessible to the general public. Roads (including the pavement), public squares, parks, and beaches are typically considered public space. To a limited extent, government buildings which are open to ...

. International graffiti artists collaborated with Reiss to create the film which features original footage from many graffiti artists beginning with the first modern graffiti artist

Cornbread Cornbread is a quick bread made with cornmeal, associated with the cuisine of the Southern United States, with origins in Native American cuisine. It is an example of batter bread. Dumplings and pancakes made with finely ground cornmeal are st ...

, to those who saw the take off of the art,

TAKI 183 TAKI 183 is the "tag" of a Greek-American graffitist who was active during the late 1960s and early 1970s in New York City. The graffitist, whose given name is Demetrios, has never revealed his full name. Biography TAKI 183 was a graffiti tagge ...

to more contemporary artists

Shepard Fairey Frank Shepard Fairey (born February 15, 1970) is an American contemporary artist, activist and founder of OBEY Clothing who emerged from the skateboarding scene. In 1989 he designed the " Andre the Giant Has a Posse" (...OBEY...) sticker cam ...

and

Os Gemeos OSGEMEOS (also known as Os Gemeos or Os Gêmeos, Portuguese for ''The Twins'') are identical twin street artists Otavio Pandolfo and Gustavo Pandolfo (born 1974). They started painting graffiti in 1987 and their work appears on streets and in gall ...

. In addition to

, the film features

Tracy 168 TRACY 168 (born Michael Tracy in 1958) is an American graffiti artist. He pioneered the art form known as Wildstyle. Tracy 168 came to be known as one of the most influential graffiti and street artists of all time, as variations of Wild Style writ ...

, Terrible T-Kid 170,

Cope2 Fernando Carlo (also known as Cope2) is an artist from the Kingsbridge section of the Bronx, New York. Early life He has been a graffiti artist since 1985. Cope2's cousin "Chico 80" influenced Cope into writing. In 1982, he made his own crew ca ...

, Stay High 149,

KRS-One Lawrence "Kris" Parker (born August 20, 1965), better known by his stage names KRS-One (; an abbreviation of "Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over Nearly Everyone") and Teacha, is an American rapper from New York City. He rose to prominence as part of ...

, Revs, 2esae,

Zephyr In European tradition, a zephyr is a light wind or a west wind, named after Zephyrus, the Greek god or personification of the west wind. Zephyr may also refer to: Arts and media Fiction Fiction media * ''Zephyr'' (film), a 2010 Turkish ...

DAIM DAIM (, like the coin ''dime''; born 1971 as Mirko Reisser) is a German graffiti artist who lives and works in Hamburg. He is particularly known for his large-size, 3D-style graffiti works. This has become known as his trademark. For his technica ...

Blek le Rat Blek le Rat (; born Xavier Prou, 1952) is a French graffiti artist. He was one of the first graffiti artists in Paris, and has been described as the "Father of stencil graffiti". Early life Xavier Prou was born on 15 November 1951 in Boulogne ...

, Shuck2,

Ash Ash or ashes are the solid remnants of fires. Specifically, ''ash'' refers to all non-aqueous, non- gaseous residues that remain after something burns. In analytical chemistry, to analyse the mineral and metal content of chemical samples, ash ...

, Skuf, Revok,

Ron English Ron English (born June 6, 1959) is an American contemporary artist who explores brand imagery, street art, and advertising. Career English has produced images on the street, in museums, in movies, books and television. He coined the term POPa ...

, Chaz Bojorquez,

Lady Pink Lady Pink, born Sandra Fabara (1964), is an Ecuadorian-American graffiti and mural artist. Early life Fabara was born in Ambato, Ecuador in 1964 and moved to the Astoria neighborhood of Queens, New York when she was seven years old. She grew up ...

Mear One Mear One (born 1971 as Kalen Ockerman) is an American artist based in Los Angeles, known for his often-political street graffiti art. Mear One is associated with CBS (Can't Be Stopped – City Bomb Squad) and WCA (West Coast Artist) crews. As a g ...

, Urban Theorists Stefano Bloch (UCLA Dept. of Urban Planning and University of Arizona) and Susan A. Phillips (Pitzer College), actor and filmmaker

Russ Kingston Russ Kingston is an American film and television actor, editor, cinematographer and filmmaker. Kingston is best known as an actor for such films as ''I Come with the Rain'' starring Josh Hartnett, '' Transmorphers: Fall of Man'', ''Mega Shark V ...

, Pez, Sixe, Falko,

Faith47 Faith47 / Faith XLVII (born Cape Town, 1979) is a South African interdisciplinary artist who has held solo exhibitions in Miami (2018), New York City (2015),

, , Ise, Kenor & Kode, Scage, Mickey, Chino, and Ket.

George L. Kelling George Lee Kelling (August 21, 1935 – May 15, 2019) was an American criminologist, a professor in the School of Criminal Justice at Rutgers University–Newark, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, and a fellow at ...

, co-author of ''

Broken Windows Broken may refer to: Literature * ''Broken'' (Armstrong novel), a 2006 novel by Kelley Armstrong in the ''Women of the Otherworld'' series * ''Broken'' (Slaughter novel), a 2010 novel by Karin Slaughter Music Albums * ''Broken (And Oth ...

'', an ''

Atlantic Monthly ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

'' article that formed the basis for

Rudy Giuliani Rudolph William Louis Giuliani (, ; born May 28, 1944) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 107th Mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001. He previously served as the United States Associate Attorney General from 1981 to 198 ...

's widely imitated

gentrification Gentrification is the process of changing the character of a neighborhood through the influx of more Wealth, affluent residents and businesses. It is a common and controversial topic in urban politics and urban planning, planning. Gentrification ...

campaign, was interviewed for this film.

Reception

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' wrote, "''Bomb It'' isn't the first documentary to address the history and evolution of graffiti culture, and it probably won't be the last. But what distinguishes Jon Reiss's lively, sure-handed film from the rest is that it widens the spectrum by taking a comprehensively international viewpoint."

''Bomb It 2''

The sequel ''Bomb It 2'' (2010) was commissioned as a web series for the digital broadcast network

Babelgum Babelgum was a free-to-view Internet television platform supported by advertising. The project was set up in 2005 by Italian media and telecommunications entrepreneur Silvio Scaglia (one of the founders of Italian TelCo FASTWEB) and scientist Eri ...

and expands the exploration of graffiti and street art into locations not covered in the first film. Continuing his investigation of international graffiti, Reiss traveled by himself to

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estima ...

Jakarta Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coast of Java, the world's most populous island, Jakarta ...

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

, Palestinian refugee camps on the

West Bank The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

and

Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

. Artists featured include Klone, KnowHope, GreatBates, Zero Cents, Foma <3, INSPIRE 1, Darbotz, Killer Gerbil, Bon, Alex Face, Sloke, Husk Mit Navn, Ash, Phibs, Stormie Mills, Beejoir and others.

References

External links

* * * {{IMDb title, 1002535 2007 films American documentary films 2007 documentary films Documentary films about graffiti 2000s English-language films 2000s American films