BRUNSWICK

Filmmaking duo Ian Carlson and Jeff Griecci of Portland-based Mint Films took to the streets to provide a firsthand glimpse into the oft-condemned world of graffiti art. The resulting documentary film, “Year-Round Metal Enjoyment,” will show at Fronier Cinema in Brunswick on Oct. 25.

The film follows a handful of graffiti artists in Maine and Massachusetts as they create works of art on trains and train stations. For the artists, one goal is to have their art seen all around in the country as the trains move from station to station. But there is another, deeper connection between art and artist that Carlson and Griecci didn’t expect.

“The artists generally agreed that they had a need for an outlet … a way to have a small voice in the world,” said Carlson, who along with Griecci spent 5 years following the graffiti crews Circle T and Year-Round Metal Enjoyment, the latter being the namesake of the documentary. “Becoming obsessed with graffiti helped many of them stay away from addiction. For some, it’s just the simple joy of hanging out with friends.”

Griecci and Carlson were both film students the University of Southern Maine, and through mutual friends gained an inside look at into some of the prominent graffiti crews of Portland, including local kings Year-Round Metal Enjoyment.

“I lived on Congress Street and met a lot of artists from MECA (Maine College of Art) and sort of became immersed in the art community,” said Griecci. “Through them I got to meet some of the graffiti crews that moved through portland. I learned that these artists were very exclusive, and there hadn’t been much documentation on them. I felt as though it was a cool and unique story that deserved to be told.”

The artists had to warm up to the idea, but they trusted Griecci and agreed to let him share their story.

To help Griecci bring his dream to fruition, he brought Carlson onto his team, and Mint Films was born.

“I had worked with him on a feature film before, and it was a great experience,” said Carlson. “I was happy he asked me because I had always been interested in train culture, and hip-hop culture.”

The idea in the beginning was to create a short film, but as soon as Griecci and Carlson began collecting material, they realized they had a full-length feature on their hands.

“I started to learn more and more about graffiti culture,” said Griecci. “I realized there’s this whole other crew in Boston, and that split things wide open. It turned into a five-year project.”

The Boston crew was Circle T, which started in the mid-’80s in Lowell, Massachusetts, before moving into the city. Year-Round Metal Enjoyment was formed in the late ’90s in Portland, and by 2005 the two crews unofficially joined forces, with members commuting back and forth between the two cities to spread their art.

“It’s a great form of therapy for a lot of these guys and gals,” said Griecci. “For some of them it’s a hobby, but a lot of them take it on as ‘that’s what I do.’”

Though graffiti is against the law, graffiti artists — or “writers” — see it as the lowest form of lawbreaking. Griecci agrees.

“You’re not physically hurting anyone, you’re not robbing anything, and you’re not stealing,” Griecci said.

Some may argue that they’re putting themselves in danger, but Griecci points out that this is different than amateurs walking the tracks and tempting fate — an act he certainly doesn’t condone.

“In spending so much time with these guys, I’ve learned that they know as much about trains as rail workers do,” Griecci said. “Sometimes more. If you’re an artist working on a canvas, you know how that canvas works. Trains are the graffiti writers’ canvas.”

Griecci said that having artists who vouched for him was key to such candid access into the crews.

“The biggest thing for me was that everybody was different,” Griecci said. “Your assumptions kind of get blown away, and I think the general public tends to stereotype without knowing what’s really happening. They might think (graffiti) is coming from teenagers, but in making this film I learned that’s definitely not the case.”

Griecci and Carlson interviewed 15 different subjects for the documentary, and all of them declined to give their real names. They also interviewed a worker from Pan Am Railways, who took a stance against graffiti. They also followed a few train photographers, who Carlson said have mixed opinions about graffiti. “Some don’t understand it, and others think it adds to the color of the photos.”

Griecci said editing such a large amount footage was a daunting task, but that the story took shape in the editing room.

“We kind of didn’t know what our story was for awhile,” Griecci said. “We had two years of material but no hook, so we went into the editing room and found it. With a documentary you start with a nugget of a story, but with all good documentaries you don’t really know what you’re going to get. You could get something totally different. It’s all about finding that angle.”

That angle, they agreed, was the compelling nature and varying methodologies of the different artists, and the risk they take to preform their craft.

The Mint Films duo finished “Year-Round Metal Enjoyment” at the end of last year, and showed it at the Emerge Film Festival last March. They also had a Portland premier and a Lowell showing, both of which sold out. Now they’re taking the film on a short tour around New England and Montreal, with the final tour date set for this Tuesday, Oct. 25 at Frontier Cinema.

“We’re putting this tour together to test the audience,” Carlson said. “We want to slowly bring this film to people who have expressed interest across the country.”

The show starts at 7 p.m. Tickets are $8 and can be purchased at the door or at explorefrontier.com.

bgoodridge@timesrecord.com

Copy the Story Link

Comments are not available on this story.