In 1986, then-film-student Tamra Davis shot an intimate portrait of her artist friend, who just happened to be Jean-Michel Basquiat. Unseen for over 20 years, the footage has been compiled into a feature-length film on the world's first graffiti-art star, entitled "Jean-Michael Basquiat: The Radiant Child."

"I was going to film school and I worked in an art gallery, and he said, 'Oh, you should make a movie about me,'" Davis told Asylum of the film's genesis.

What Davis didn't know at the time was that the reticent painter had barely given any interviews, despite being one of the most famous living artists in the world.

To learn more about the documentary and see a sneak peek, read on.

At 23 years old, Basquiat was a darling of the New York art scene, as well as an internationally recognized talent. Brooklyn-born Basquiat began tagging "SAMO" (short for "same old sh**") around the city in the late 1970s. From there he moved to paintings and gallery shows, which caught the attention of New York art critics, and Andy Warhol, in the early 1980s. He would later die of a heroin overdose in 1988.

Despite hoping to turn the footage into a documentary for the likes of PBS, Davis says when she captured Basquiat at work and at play it was more like informal time spent together. "It started, really, as just two friends having a great excuse to hang out," she said. "But then, I really didn't think it was that valuable, the footage. It was the '80s -- I figured there was so much footage of Jean-Michel at that time."

It was only when Davis showed some of the footage at a 2005 Basquiat retrospective, at L.A.'s MOCA, that she realized just how important it was. The full-length film, now playing at Manhattan's Film Forum theater, provides a larger, richer context for Basquiat's life and work. It also features appearances from downtown heavyweights like Julian Schnabel, Fab 5 Freddy and Jeffrey Deitch.

Upping the street-cred ante, the film's artwork and animation were provided by Shepard Fairey, and Beastie Boys Adam Horovitz and Mike Diamond contributed to the score. (Davis is none other than Mrs. Michael Diamond.)

When asked what she thought the effect of the film will be on Basquiat's lingering image, Davis had this to say: "I think the misconception that he was a street kid, this idiot savant, this naïve boy that exploded upon the art scene, will be dispelled."