Downtown 81

Return to the bombed-out wasteland of Manhattan's Lower East Side in 1981 with the long-lost film, Downtown 81. A young Jean-Michel Basquiat stars as a barely fictionalized version of himself, recently evicted and attempting to sell a painting so he can get back into his apartment. As he wanders lower Manhattan he encounters friends (John Lurie, Vincent Gallo, Fab 5 Freddy), and takes in a couple shows by James White and the Blacks and Kid Creole and the Coconuts. Arto Lindsay and the rest of the band DNA cross his path, as does Debbie Harry. Downtown 81 recaptures a moment in time, when the graffiti world, the art world and the new music scene came together in the ruins of Manhattan. The Webster Film Series presents a newly restored print of Downtown 81 at 7 p.m. Wednesday, December 11, at the Arcade Building on Webster University's Gateway Campus (812 Olive Street, www.webster.edu/film-series). Tickets are $5 to $7.