SXSW Film Review: Roadsworth: Crossing the Line

Alan Kohl's Roadsworth: Crossing the Line is the story of what happens when Peter Gibson, an unassuming waiter-by-day/street-artist-by-night, becomes a political lightning rod for age-old debates over what constitutes art and how “public” public space really is. Gibson, aka Goldsworth, has an affinity for using stencils and spray paint to cover the screetscapes of Montreal in clever visual punch lines (a stenciled owl resting on the shadow of an actual light pole, the yellow line down the middle of a road transformed into a zipper). When he gets caught and charged with 53 counts of “mischief,” fans come out of the woodwork, and suddenly Gibson is a European art-world darling. Ostensibly about the political maelstrom surrounding Gibson as his hearing approaches (will he fight the charges or “sell out”?), the heart and humor of this film lie in Gibson’s journey as a budding artist and unwitting star. Everyone expects something of Goldsworth; the question becomes, what does the understated waiter – accustomed to exploring his raw talent and wry sense of humor in solitude in the dark of night – expect of himself?

Monday, March 16, 10pm, Hideout Theatre