Game Changers: Throughout Black History Month, our popular series pays tribute to Black cultural visionaries who inspire us to push ahead at a time of profound social change.

Centered on a rare interview that director and friend Tamra Davis shot more than 20 years ago, this film chronicles the meteoric rise and fall of art-world wunderkind Jean-Michel Basquiat.

In the crime-ridden New York of the 1970s, Basquiat gained notoriety for his high-energy graffiti art. By 1983, his bold paintings had won him international critical and commercial success - he was only 23.

With compassion and insight, Davis uncovers the mysteries that surrounded this charismatic artist of enormous talent whose fortunes mirrored the roller coaster quality of the downtown scene he seemed to embody.