An influential observer of popular culture and entertainment, Michael Holman is a filmmaker, artist, writer, and musician, based in New York City. A pioneer in the Downtown New York Art Scene and Uptown Hip Hop Scene, Holman founded the band Gray - an industrial atmospheric, noise group - with painter Jean-Michel Basquiat, as well as created and produced the first Hip Hop television show, Graffiti Rock in 1984
Public Enemy’s Chuck D leads a cast of hip-hop icons and leading African-American and Latino cultural commentators as they chart the factors that led to the birth of the revolutionary art form of hip-hop in 1970s New York, as well as the creation of the seminal hit The Message. They evoke a picture of how, after the turbulence of the 60s and the civil rights struggles, desperate social conditions and the experience of countless dispossessed people of colour living in a city mired in crisis helped give birth to a new art form.
Release Date: 2023-01-21
Character: Self
Episode Count: 4
Vote Count: 3
The life and work of New York artist Jean-Michel Basquiat have been marked by a long quest for identity, by his Haitian and Puerto Rican family origins and by a founding trip to Africa. To portray this major painter of the 20th century, who died in 1988 at only 27 years old, is also to evoke the place of black American artists in the conservative and racist America of the Reagan years.
Release Date: 2022-06-24
Character: Self - Musician, hip-hop historian, co-founder of the group Gray
Vote Count: 3
A gang of skater girls use newfound magic to save New York City from a coven of reptilian witches.
Release Date: 2021-12-31
Exploring the pre-fame years of the celebrated American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, and how New York City, its people, and tectonically shifting arts culture of the late 1970s and '80s shaped his vision.
Release Date: 2018-12-19
Character: Self
Vote Count: 12
This film tells Jean-Michel's story through exclusive interviews with his two sisters Lisane and Jeanine, who have never before agreed to be interviewed for a TV documentary. With striking candour, Basquiat's art dealers - including Larry Gagosian, Mary Boone and Bruno Bischofberger - as well as his most intimate friends, lovers and fellow artists, expose the cash, the drugs and the pernicious racism which Basquiat confronted on a daily basis. As historical tableaux, visual diaries of defiance or surfaces covered with hidden meanings, Basquiat's art remains the beating heart of this story.
Release Date: 2017-10-07
Character: Self (Writer, filmmaker)
Vote Count: 10
For over 30 years, Martin Bisi has been recording music from his studio in Gowanus, Brooklyn. He has worked with many influential musicians, including Sonic Youth, Swans, Herbie Hancock, Brian Eno and the Dresden Dolls. Now though, he finds himself squeezed in by the approaching gentrification of his neighborhood.
Release Date: 2014-07-17
Character: Himself
Vote Count: 2
Two Bronx teens steal a pit bull puppy. One boy wants it as a fighting dog, the other as a pet. The conflict ends in heartache, with lessons learned.
Release Date: 2011-06-05
Department: Directing
Job: Director
From Brooklyn to the Bronx, Soho to Greenwich, Union Square to Wall Street... Join us and the friends, collaborators and gallery owners who supported Jean-Michel Basquiat throughout his life. The first ever recognized graffiti artist, who saw international success as a neo-expressionist painter in the 80s, Basquiat is a true contemporary hero who died at the peak of his career.
Release Date: 2010-10-10
Character: Himself
Vote Count: 1
A thoughtful portrait of a renowned artist, this documentary shines the spotlight on New York City painter Jean-Michel Basquiat. Featuring extensive interviews conducted by Basquiat's friend, filmmaker Tamra Davis, the production reveals how he dealt with being a black artist in a predominantly white field. The film also explores Basquiat's rise in the art world, which led to a close relationship with Andy Warhol, and looks at how the young painter coped with acclaim, scrutiny and fame.
Release Date: 2010-01-25
Character: Self
Vote Count: 36
In the late 1970s, the "greatest city in the world" was teetering on the edge of total chaos. A failed economy, crime and en mass housing corruption gave way to a city in crisis. Yet out of the economic and social strife that held the "Big Apple" hostage, a family of homegrown cultures that would forever change the world began to emerge. Downtown Calling not only documents, in detail, the evolution of New York City's fertile music and art subculture during this period, but how its collective output continues to play a prominent, driving role in the international fashion, art and music industries today.
Release Date: 2009-10-24
Department: Production
Job: Producer
Character: Self
From 1978 to 1982, Glenn O'Brien hosted a New York city public access cable TV show called TV Party. Co-hosted by Chris Stein, from Blondie, and directed by filmmaker Amos Poe, the hour long show took television where it had never gone before: to the edge of civility and "sub-realism" as Glenn would put it. Walter Steding and his TV Party "Orchestra" provided a musical accompaniment to the madness at hand, and many artists and musicians, from The Clash, Nile Rodgers, Jean-Michel Basquiat, David Bryne and Arto Lindsey were regular guests. It was the cocktail party that could be a political party. With 80 hours of disintegrating 3/4 inch videotape as a starting point, we tracked down the trend setting participants still living today and found out what they remember of the period and how the show influenced their lives. This, combined with clips from the orginal show, became the documentary "TV Party.
Release Date: 2005-08-03
Character: Self
Vote Count: 1
My Coolest Years is a television program that aired on VH1 in which actors, musicians, and other celebrities reminisce about their high school years.
Release Date: 2004-12-06
Character: Himself
Episode Count: 1
The film documents the development of hip hop culture since its inception in the 1970s. With interviews from various figures in the community such as Afrika Bambaataa, Grandmaster Flash, Fab 5 Freddy, KRS-One, MC Hammer and Busy Bee.
Release Date: 2004-04-02
Character: Self
Vote Count: 3
The film is a day in the life of a young artist, Jean-Michel Basquiat, who needs to raise money to reclaim the apartment from which he has been evicted. He wanders the downtown streets carrying a painting he hopes to sell, encountering friends, whose lives (and performances) we peek into.
Release Date: 2001-07-13
Character: Michael
Vote Count: 25
The Hip Hop Years is a three part series of one hour television documentaries, made for Channel 4 in 1999. The series was devised by David Upshal who produced, directed and narrated the series. He also produced the 33-track compilation CD which accompanied the series and co-wrote the book with Alex Ogg, also titled The Hip Hop Years. The series charts the definitive story of Hip Hop, rising from the streets of the Bronx to become, what Upshal calls, "the new Rock'n'Roll". The programmes combine archive clips and performance from TV, movies and music videos with specially shot material and interviews with key players.
Release Date: 1999-01-01
Character: Self
Episode Count: 1
Vote Count: 1
Collection of archive breakdance footage
Release Date: 1997-01-23
Department: Production
Job: Producer
80's Archive Footage
Release Date: 1997-01-23
Department: Production
Job: Producer
Character:
Blue's Clues is a colorful and learning series that is targeted at the younger crowd, but can be enjoyed by all. The host, Steve Burns, invites viewers daily into the Blue's Clues house to help him out, learn and have fun. The show is based around the host looking for three clues that Blue provides by labelling them with a pawprint to figure something out and in the process, having an adventure.
Release Date: 1996-09-08
Department: Directing
Job: Director
Episode Count: 1
Vote Count: 247
The brief life of Jean Michel Basquiat, a world renowned New York street artist struggling with fame, drugs and his identity.
Release Date: 1996-08-09
Department: Writing
Job: Story Developer
Vote Count: 289
"Another Vincent Gallo, Michael Holman, and Suzanne Mallouk collaboration is the short film Vampire LeStat, an exploration into horror." - description from the May 2018 event "Michael Holman: An Evening of Films & Discussion with David Hershkovits"
Release Date: 1987-01-01
Department: Directing
Job: Director
A young artist is followed by his friend in New York. A Tribute to Jean-Michel Basquiat
Release Date: 1984-11-02
Department: Directing
Job: Director
Graffiti Rock was a hip-hop based television program, originally screened June 29, 1984. Intended as an on-going series, the show only received one pilot episode and aired on WPIX channel 11 in New York City and 88 markets around the country, to good Nielsen ratings. Graffiti Rock resembled a hip hop version of the popular television dance shows at the time such as Soul Train and American Bandstand. The show was created and hosted by Michael Holman, who was the manager of the popular break-dancing crew, the New York City Breakers. The episode features Run D.M.C., Shannon, The New York City Breakers, DJ Jimmie Jazz and Kool Moe Dee and Special K of the Treacherous Three. The New York City Breakers, who were fresh off of their success from the movie, Beat Street, made a showcase appearance. The episode also features television and film actress, Debi Mazar and actor/director Vincent Gallo as dancers on the show. A segment of the show was sampled on The Beastie Boys' LP Ill Communication. "[...] alright, you're scratchin it right now, cut the record back and forth against the needle, back and forth, back and forth, make it scratch, but let me tell you something don't try this at home on your dad's stereo only under hiphop supervision, alright ?" The show has since become an important 'must-see' for hip-hop enthusiasts, alongside such titles as Wild Style and Beat Street.
Release Date: 1984-06-29
Department: Production
Job: Producer
Character: Himself - Host
Episode Count: 1
Vote Count: 6
An aspiring DJ, from the South Bronx, and his best friend, a promoter, try to get into show business by exposing people to hip-hop music and culture.
Release Date: 1984-06-08
Department: Production
Job: Producer
Vote Count: 88
Release Date: 1981-02-01
Department: Directing
Job: Director
Vote Count: 4
Legendary rock impresario Bill Graham closed the Fillmore West in early summer 1971 with five nights of all-star concerts, the last curtain going down on July 4. The storied San Francisco venue had become an institution, an integral part of the West Coast music scene of the '60s and, now, an essential element of the mythology of rock 'n' roll. Always the showman, Graham made sure the Fillmore West was sent off in a blaze of glory, spotlighting bands - including the Grateful Dead and Santana-that rose to fame at the hall. The madness leading up to the shows and the concerts themselves were filmed for FILLMORE: THE LAST DAYS, a gritty, behind-the-scenes look at a fascinating moment in rock history and a showcase for great performances by iconic artists who epitomized 'the San Francisco Sound.' Originally released in 1972 and long out-of-print, the documentary film makes its DVD debut with Rhino's landmark reissue.
Release Date: 1972-06-14
Character: Himself - Performer
Vote Count: 1
Eureeka's Castle is an American children's television series that aired on Nickelodeon from September 4, 1989 to June 30, 1995.
Department: Directing
Job: Director
Episode Count: 26
Vote Count: 9