SXSW 2009 Film Coverage | US Premiere of RiP: A Remix Manifesto
March 17, 2009
Two nights ago was the US premiere of Brett Gaylor's A Remix Manifesto, a fantastic documentary on the challenges of our mash-up culture. It was a film that featured interviews from outspoken critics of the American copyright system like Lawerence Lessig and Cory Doctorow. Before the show, Kris Krug and I talked with Gaylor, the show's producer, and Lessig (who was, of course, extremely awesome).
The film began with a great history of copyrights, creatives, and Mickey Mouse. The fast-paced cinematography quickly flipped between educational, historical segments and flashes of massive GirlTalk concerts that feature GirlTalk on a single laptop, surrounded by intensely dancing people.
Gaylor has made the entire film freely available for download in chapter format on opensourcecinema.org and invites anyone to remix the film as they see fit.
A Remix Manifesto is a co-production between the National Film Board of Canada and Montreal-based EyeSteelFilm, and I attended the film with a great group of Canadians from Rain City Studios.
After the film, Lessig took questions from the audience. One of the audience members tried to debate him, which the audience enjoyed. The irony of the idea of an audience member attempting to one-up one of the best lawyers in the current time period made us laugh.
Lessig not only took the question, but he securely and beautifully depended his point of view while educating the audience about copyright law. It was something not to be missed. Some video of it will be posted here soon.
Check out the upcoming screenings or you can get involved in the RiP's open-source film tour. To learn more, visit ripmix.com and opensourcecinema.org.
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