“Downloaded,” a documentary film exploring the history of sharing music on the Internet, made its world premiere Sunday at South by Southwest, a festival that marries music, technology and film.
Director Alex Winter focuses on Napster, the file sharing network that allowed 25 million people to share 80 million recordings in what became an early social network. The service allowed users to download music for free from each other’s computers until a lawsuit brought by the recording industry forced it to shut down in 2001.
But by then, a new generation had become accustomed to getting music for free, and the industry and musicians saw revenues plummet.
The founders of Napster, Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker, participate in the film, but Winter allows all sides of the debate over free music to make their cases, often using archival news footage.
“It wasn’t hard for me to balance the two points of view, because I have two points of view,” Winter said. “I don’t think the old school is right to try to criminalize the downloading generation, and I don’t think the downloading generation is right saying that everything should be free.”
The story of Napster echoes today, as the Justice Department pursues the extradition of Kim Dotcom, the founder of MegaUpload, where users share videos. The New Zealander is accused of criminal violation of U.S. copyright laws and money laundering.
Fanning said it was tough to have a film made about something he did when he was a 19-year-old music fan.
“We didn’t think we were doing something that was going to change the world,” Fanning said. “Everyone online was contributing and sharing, and I didn’t realize this fully while I was developing it, but that was the first time everyone on the Internet was publishing content. In the end everyone had a voice, and to see that that voice can have an effect was amazing.”
Winter originally planned to make a feature film for MTV but after failing to win backing, decided to make a documentary for VH1. The network plans to broadcast the film next month.
SUPERLATIVE Signs Director Claudia Abend For Spots and Branded Content
Latin American director/editor and documentary filmmaker Claudia Abend has joined SUPERLATIVE for her first U.S. representation spanning commercials and branded content.
Abend's empathetic docu-style POV has garnered several international awards for the documentary films Hit (2008) and The Flower of Life (2018). Her spotmaking credits include such brands as Procter & Gamble, Nestle and Blue Cross/Blue Shield. SUPERLATIVE has already worked with Abend, together producing a new ad campaign for digital agency Tinuiti and The Honest Company, a consumer goods corporation featuring eco-minded products.
“We found Claudia through her poignant documentaries on the festival circuit,” said SUPERLATIVE creative manager Stefan Dezil. “We are excited about her textured narratives, emotional storytelling, and her powerhouse long-form storytelling abilities, currently on her third feature film. As SUPERLATIVE continues to build our brand after premiering our latest films at Sundance and SXSW, Claudia is the kind of multidimensional artist we are excited to partner with on branded content and beyond. Fluent in English and Spanish, her reel shows real prowess with infants, food and skin products, families both young and old. Great visual storytelling and inspirational doc work.”
Abend began her career in her native Uruguay, studying film and editing in college. “My dad would show me films like Citizen Kane,” she said. “I love cinema and became an editor. It was here that I learned all about communicating human emotion.”
From the get-go, Abend hit it big as a documentary director, teaming with Adrianna Loeff on Hit, a movie chronicling pop artists of Uruguayan music. Abend took home a Best Editing... Read More