Reykjavík Grapevine - 28.09.2013, Page 26
Documenting The Downfall
Simon Klose on his film ‘TPB AFK: The Pirate Bay—
Away from Keyboard’
Film | RIFF
26The Reykjavík Grapevine Issue 15 — 2013
What's your own filmmaking back-
ground? How did that affect your
approach to the material, both in
terms of technical storytelling and in
terms of attitude?
I never studied filmmaking—I went
to law school. I was more interested in
culture in general. I've always collected
films and music; I grew up copying
cassette tapes and VHS tapes, and
when the internet came, I copied
files. My interest in the topic comes
from being brought up in the ‘80s and
‘90s—and also from being interested in
power relations in society. So my film-
making background is sorta DIY-ish, I
learned by failing—a lot.
What did you learn in making
the film?
Five years ago, I didn't own a
smartphone, didn't have Facebook or
Twitter, didn't know about crowdfund-
ing. So, in making a film about changes
in the digital landscape, I've learned
a lot. The internet can be an amazing
place to connect with your audiences.
I've also learned that big corporations
will crucify young innovators to keep
old business models in place.
A New Model
The film had an "internet premiere"
and has more than 2.1 million views
on YouTube, but you've also been
bringing it to festivals all summer.
What would you say is still important
and irreplaceable about entering the
film into public spaces in this way?
From this can we draw any larger
conclusions about the private/online
mode of arts consumership?
I never think that watching a
downloaded .mpeg4 is a substitute for
going to a cinema with a friend and
experiencing the big sound and huge
image with a room full of strangers.
My film was certainly made for the big
screen in terms of sound mastering
and colour grading. And it’s important
to travel around the world and talk
about your film. Even though we knew
that, because of putting the film on
YouTube under a Creative Commons
license, a lot of festivals, and definitely
theatrical distributors, wouldn’t touch
us, we still thought it was symbolically
important, to talk about the positives
of file-sharing. I want to be a positive
example for file-sharing. The film
has been sold to six TV channels; it’s
been seen by four million people. It’s a
platform I wouldn’t have had if not for
presenting the film for free.
And speaking of access. The film's
website allows viewers to download
a torrent of the film, to buy a digital
copy for $10 or pre-order a DVD,
with additional footage for $23. This
is not dissimilar to Peter Sunde's
Flattr, which allows people on the
internet to make voluntary dona-
tions to artists they’d like to support.
And of course your film was initially
funded through Kickstarter. So, will
a decentralised funding model ever
fully replace the corporate/institu-
tional model of the arts? Should it?
I don't think it will replace that
model. I think they'll merge and
become something new. We shouldn't
look for one solution for film fund-
ing. With my own film, for instance,
Kickstarter financing was less than ten
percent of the budget. But then again
other films can be made with totally
decentralised means, depending on
the budget. Every film needs its own
strategy. Now is a good time to experi-
ment with funding and with audience
relationships. The discussion should
be about how we can create new tools
that actually help filmmakers. So I used
Kickstarter, I used Flattr, and I sell the
film for download through VHX, which
gives me a larger cut.
Not Neutral
The film focuses a lot on the drama
of the trial and the lives of the three
Pirate Bay founders. Obviously we
hear what they think about the eth-
ics of file-sharing and copyright, but
we also hear from prosecutors... To
what extent do you see the film as
making a sustained argument for
file-sharing and copyright? Or to
what extent is it neutral? Do you find
that the film is changing people's
minds?
I hate films that pretend to be neutral.
A lot of people have perceived this film
as objective and neutral, but I don't
think it's neutral at all. I tried to make
it as subjective as possible by showing
how their lives are ruined, economi-
cally ruined.
In what ways would you say you
differ, politically, from the Pirate Bay
founders? You said in another inter-
view that you didn't yourself vote for
the Pirate Party in the last election...
The three of them are very politi-
cally different, almost opposites—Pe-
ter’s on the Left, Fredrik’s on the
Right, and Gottfrid’s somewhere in
the middle… I tried to vote for a party
that's a little bit broader in its platform,
even though I think they're doing a
great thing in bringing up all these
issues. In Sweden a few of the other
parties have copied the Pirate Party’s
positions.
Is there any element of the film that
you're especially interested in shar-
ing with an Icelandic audience?
Very much indeed. Iceland is the
first nation on Earth that has a Pirate
Party in parliament; I’m a big fan of Bir-
gitta Jónsdóttir and her work. The role
that Iceland had in inviting WikiLeaks
was very exciting. I’m obviously still
following the Icelandic experiment in
digital freedom, so it's going to be very
interesting.
What are you working on now?
I’m working on this startup,
linklib, which is a way for filmmakers
to annotate their films and send it to
audiences, on their phone. They can
add comments, add links—they look
like tweets—so you don’t have to open
up another window to start Googling
all the references. I haven't decided on
my next film yet; I’m still developing a
couple ideas for my next documentary.
Words
Mark Asch
In making ‘TPB AFK: The Pirate Bay—Away from Keyboard,’ Simon Klose spent several
years following Peter Sunde, Fredrik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm—founders of torrent site
The Pirate Bay—when they were being put on trial in Sweden at the behest of the enter-
tainment industry for “promoting other people's infringements of copyright laws.” Simon
tells us more…
The National Museum of Iceland
celebrates its 150th anniversary 2013.
Along with the permanent exhibition that features
Iceland’s history from settlement to present day the
museum will offer a variety of exhibitions during the
year, e.g. on Icelandic silver and photography.
Opening hours:
Summer (1. May-15. September): Daily 10-17
Winter (16. September-30. April): Tuesday-Sunday 11-17
Su!urgata 41, 101 Reykjavík.
tel: 530 2200 Thjodminjasafn@thjodminjasafn.is
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Still from ‘TPB AFK’