Grateful for Hip-Hop

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Inspired by the Hip-Hop artists who fueled his passion for words, handwritten artist Renda Writer creates, "The Largest Hip-Hop Tribute Mural” in the world.

As a successful career artist who has traveled the globe creating murals, meeting new collectors, and being featured on the news, Renda Writer has always attributed his success as an artist to having an attitude of gratitude.

2023 marks the 50th Anniversary of Hip-Hop. A party in the Bronx on August 11th, 1973 is widely considered to be the birthplace of hip-hop. The art form has since touched every corner of our world and evolved into one of the most significant cultural forces today.

Luis Eduardo Villamizar

Director

Larry Moon Boots, Bikelantis, Prime Time
Luis Eduardo Villamizar

Producer

Project Type:

Documentary, Short
Runtime:

10 minutes 8 seconds
Completion Date:

July 25, 2023
Production Budget:

3,500 USD
Country of Origin:

United States
Country of Filming:

United States
Language:

English
Shooting Format:

digital
Aspect Ratio:

16:9
Film Color:

Color
First-time Filmmaker:

No
Student Project:

No

Urban Film Festival

Miami
September 3, 2023
World Premiere
Winner - Best Documentary Short film
Arts Accelerator Film Festival

Ft Lauderdale
United States
September 23, 2023
Honorable Mention

Director Biography - Luis Eduardo Villamizar

LEV MEDIA is the film production company of award-winning independent filmmaker Luis Eduardo Villamizar. He loves to focus on eccentric people and learning what makes them tick. His eclectic taste in music and bicycles often play essential roles in his films.

In 2018 he produced his first feature documentary, BIKELANTIS. It follows his filmmaker friend Manny Cervantes, on an autobiographical sketch of his love of people and communities centered on bike-friendliness around the United States.

Since then, Luis' films have been selected by several international film festivals. His recent award-winning short documentary, LARRY MOON BOOTS, was shot entirely on an iPhone.

His latest short documentary, "Grateful for Hip-Hop, Part One - A Renda Writer Story" will premiere during the 50 year Anniversary of Hip-Hop in August 2023. Based in Hollywood, Florida he's currently writing and developing several film projects.

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Director Statement

I've been a Renda Writer art collector since 2019 and was extremely excited to find out about the hip-hop mural he was planning in my hometown of Hackensack, New Jersey. I had a cousin who was huge into the genre and produced a few artists with his label, Slept On Entertainment. Something was definitely drawing my soul to this project and I NEEDED to be there. I reached out to Renda and he loved the idea of filming the process for a short documentary.

He says, "Gratitude brings abundance!! The more you focus on being Grateful, the more you will have to be Grateful for. Simple as that."

In 2018 Renda Writer released the 1st Edition of his “Handwritten Art Tribute to Hip-Hop” and in 2020 he released the 2nd Edition. Both of these were done on canvas and he made prints of both.

Over the past five years, Renda Writer has made it his mission to gift prints of both editions of this tribute piece to the rap artists that are mentioned in them. He's traveled the country doing this, and he's now given Free prints to over 170 rap artists, including some very notable names like: Queen Latifah, Puff Daddy, Ice T, Big Daddy Kane, Rakim and Redman.

Now…. the 3rd Edition, is a large-scale mural created on May 13, 2023 at "The Graffiti Temple" in Hackensack, New Jersey at the start of “Hip-Hop Appreciation Week,".

(Part Two will be another documentary showing behind-the scenes, more of the artistic process and featuring well-known hip-hop artists as Renda creates a similar mural on the west coast in California.)