WHO KILLED MICHAEL STEWART?
1984-2019
Who Killed Michael Stewart? (1984), directed by Franck Lazare Goldberg, investigates the death of 25-year-old artist Michael Stewart after his arrest by New York City transit police. Featuring a 1983 interview with Madonna, the film explores the circumstances of Stewart’s death and the broader issues of police violence and racial injustice in 1980s New York.
Franck Lazare in his own words to madonnaunderground:
“So about Madonna and Michael Stewart, and how I interviewed Madonna at Maripol loft on Broadway:
It’s a long story, but to make it short, I was a friend of Maripol, we knew each other from Nantes, a town in France where we both grew up, and found ourselves downtown NYC!
After the Michael Stewart police killing, I started following the Stewart Case, as a citizen video journalist (I don’t think that expression existed then.) Maripol knew Micheal Stewart as a model, so she invited me to come interview her at her loft on Broadway and showed me prints of Michael modeling. Madonna was also present. Maripol and Madonna worked together. Maripol was a jewelry designer and art director. Madonna also knew Stewart, from the downtown and club “scene”. He danced in her music video “Everybody”. That’s how I ended up videotaping Madonna that night, as I remember it (42 years ago!).
For more on the Stewart case we recommend this recently published book by Elon Green: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250898227/themannobodykilled/
WATCH MADONNA’S UNEDITED 5-MINUTE VIDEO HERE
