Banksy
Banksy is the pseudonym of an anonymous British street artist whose only feature-length film to date, Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010), became one of the most discussed documentaries of its decade. Working largely outside conventional channels and famously protecting his identity, he turned filmmaker after acquiring hours of footage shot by Thierry Guetta, a French-Los Angeles eccentric who had been informally filming street artists — including Banksy and Shepard Fairey — for years without producing anything from it. The film recounts Guetta's transformation into the art-world figure Mr. Brainwash and pointedly satirizes the commercial street-art scene; Banksy himself appears throughout, face and voice obscured, with narration by Rhys Ifans. It premiered at Sundance and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, holding a 96% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and sparking lasting debate over whether it is documentary or elaborate hoax.