BoingBoing TV gave us an early peak at the upcoming documentary on the Graffiti Research Lab, a collective “dedicated to outfitting graffiti artists, pranksters, and protesters with open source technologies for urban communication.”

Some of you may not have heard of the GRL, but possibly if you remember the giant scare with the ATHF Mooninites in Boston, they were the first to be blamed (then it turned out to be just a dumb stunt by Adult Swim). And if you’ve ever seen or heard of a LED throwie, its the GRL that came up with them.

The press release, as redacted by the dept of Homeland Graffiti

• From their origins in the trash room of a non-profit in Manhattan to their emergence as the instigators of an international art movement, Graffiti Research Lab: The Complete First Season documents the adventures of an architect and an engineer who quit their day jobs to develop high-tech tools for the art underground. The film follows the GRL and their network of graffiti artist collaborators (and commercial imitators) across four continents as they write on skyscrapers with lasers, mock advertisers with homemade tools, get in trouble with The Department of Homeland Security and make activism fun again. Primarily using video footage from point-and-shoot digital cameras (“The Pocket School”) and found-content on the web, the movie’s visual style draws as much from the art of the power point presentation and viral media as conventional documentary cinema. Narrated by GRL co-founders, Roth and Powderly, The Complete First Season makes a humorous and insightful argument for free speech in public, open source in pop culture, the hacker spirit in graffiti and not asking for permission in general. The film was premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2008. Available 24/7 on The Pirate Bay.

• Graffiti Research Lab

• Via BoingBoing!