UPDATE: Due to the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, Sam Pollard is unable to visit the Bay Area as planned. His behind-the-scenes lecture and San Francisco Film Society workshop will be rescheduled for a future date. We will screen Style Wars as planned, but unfortunately without Pollard in person to introduce the film.

One of the first films to document the emerging hip-hop culture, Style Wars journeys into the New York subway system's vast gallery of graffiti art to present a unique portrait of the artist as an angry young man, rebellious, street-smart and strangely eloquent. We meet the writers, as they are called-Skeme, Seen, Iz, Kase, Cap, Crazy Legs, Frosty Freeze, et al-who risk jail to "get their names up," as well as peripheral figures from cops to former Mayor Koch who try to analyze the work they can't comprehend. A lively parallel is drawn between break-dancers, rappers, and train-yard artists.