Brian Vincent and Heather Spore will introduce their documentary “Make Me Famous” and hold a Q&A session on Sunday, March 30, at 6:40 PM at 3699 McKinney Ave. The film focuses on Edward Brezinski, an obscure painter from the Lower East Side art scene in New York during the 1980s. Brezinski ran in the same circles as famous artists like Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring but never achieved their level of success.
The documentary mixes interviews, research, and archival footage to provide an immersive look at this bygone era. “We were looking for someone who didn’t get famous. We could relate.
We thought it would be an interesting angle,” said director Brian Vincent, who started shooting the film in 2015. Producer Heather Spore, a North Texas native and seasoned Broadway performer, wanted to capture the sense of community she experienced growing up and bring that to the project. “The film is about a real sense of community,” Spore said.
“New York felt like a small town to me. You might think that’s crazy, but in a neighborhood, you see the same people every day.
Dallas debut for new documentary
I loved that because that’s what I got in Texas. It felt like home.”
Originally conceived as a stage play, Vincent was inspired to make the documentary after viewing a collection of Brezinski’s art and discovering 100 hours of unseen footage from his openings and gallery shows. The filmmakers faced challenges in finding distribution for “Make Me Famous” but have negotiated theatrical runs themselves, starting in Toronto in 2023, followed by London and New York.
The Dallas debut marks the latest stop in their journey to share Brezinski’s story. “People see a little of themselves in this crazy character. There’s power in creativity and artists are such wonderful individualists.
We’re taking the spotlight off of the famous artists and putting it on the strivers,” Spore said. Through Brezinski’s story, Spore hopes to resonate with the broader artistic community. “Very few people really become famous,” she said.
“But there’s something special about people striving to put something good into the world every day. Those people to us are heroes.”
