If you didn't catch "Downtown Calling" at the HBO Latino Film Festival in Chelsea last night, you may have to wait some time to see it. But remember the title because the documentary is lively, expertly edited and presents a deft deconstruction of how New York's creative mythology rose from the ashes of a once broke, lawless and smelly city.

Which is to say, it's ready made to push the buttons of anyone scraping by in the five boroughs.

The film marks the directorial debut of Shan Nicholson, who corralled usual suspects Debbie Harry, Fab 5 Freddy, Mos Def and Nelson George to guide viewers through the birth of hip hop, the rise of dance culture and the surprising cross-pollination between Bronx b-boys and downtown post-punk rockers.

"In our minds these were sequestered scenes," Nicholson said. "Oh there was the gay scene. And there was the hip hop scene. But no, these guys were all vibing off each other hard. That was a huge [surprise]."

"Downtown Calling" acknowledges the documentaries that came before it, such as 'Wild Style' and 'Style Wars', by interviewing those directors. The film situates our contemporary too-glam, corporate-friendly New York as a direct descendant of those wild days. For once, someone finally makes the case that bombed-out graffiti subway cars were obnoxious to the everyday commuter (thank you, Nelson George). But cleaning up subway cars (which occurred as a way to lure the middle class into the subway system) was a harbinger of New York's age of prosperity, which in turn shuffled in sky-high rents, bottle clubs and the "Lion King" in Times Square.

The film, which was four years in the making, is still a work in progress, as the producers tinker with clearances and seek distribution, co-producer Ben Velez explained after the screening. Velez and Nicholson are already working on two other documentaries, on New York street gangs and the history of gay activists ACT UP.

"These cats are in their 30s. They weren't there when this was happening," producer Michael Holman told the sold-out room. Holman, whose quippy one-liners stole a few scenes in the film, founded the experimental group Gray with artist Jean-Michel Basquiat and later wrote the screenplay for the film "Basquiat."

"[Shan Nicholson] understood the importance of the foundation that had been laid between uptown and downtown," Holman said. "Shan's passion to not let that disappear drove him to make this film. Often it's people on the outside, like John Schlesinger from London, who made one of the greatest New York City films, 'Midnight Cowboy' -- oftentimes it's the outsider who can capture it better than anyone else. Shan certainly did that."

HBO's Latino Film Festival is in full swing, and runs through August 1.