Art. Drugs. Madness.

Gifted artist, tormented soul, egomaniacal bad-boy hyped up on crystal-meth. This is the snapshot, circa summer 2001, as this raw and uncensored documentary begins tracking the dramatic career of Canadian-born painter Attila Richard Lukacs. A bold visionary whose life-size homoerotic renderings of skinheads fetch tens of thousands of dollars, Lukacs fails in his attempt to crack New York City and the world’s toughest art scene. He spirals into depression and drug addiction, alienates friends and art associates, and pushes away his saintly parents. But the wired West Coast artist manages to make it to the other side, retreating from his disastrous NYC exploits to find detox, redemption, and creative renaissance in Maui.

A gritty and compulsive examination of the extremes of artistic temperament, the story is set against the backdrop of Lukacs’ meteoric rise into the international art world. His paintings — once the toast of Berlin and Toronto — shift and change in tone and execution, revealing an artist of uncanny ability and endurance.

Produced by Screen Siren Pictures Inc. with the participation of the Canadian Television Fund created by the Government of Canada and the Canadian cable industry, Telefilm Canada: Equity Investment Program, CTF: License Fee Program; Rogers Cable Network Fund; the province of British Columbia: Film Incentive BC; the Canadian Film and Video Tax Credit; and Rogers Telefund. Produced and developed in association with BRAVO! Canada, a division of CHUM limited. Produced in association with TVOntario. Developed with the participation of British Columbia Film and in association with Telefilm Canada and CTV.