Category Archives: Releases

Coming to theatres today, Friday, October 26:
TRUST MACHINE: THE STORY OF BLOCKCHAIN

Director:
Alex Winter

Premiere:
NYC theatrical (October 2018)

Select Festivals:
Tallinn Black Nights

About:
An exploration of the technology behind not only cryptocurrency, but decentralization of information as a whole.

Though theorized in its basic form a decade ago, blockchain has come into popular consciousness only in the last couple of years, tied to the popular cryptocurrency Bitcoin. Winter’s comprehensive film addresses cryptocurrency speculation, its proponents and skeptics, but goes far beyond this singular application to unpack the radical potential of the often-misunderstood technology. At its core, the story of blockchain is about decentralization, operating from the premise that centralization of information and access to it is an inherently problematic, if not outright dangerous, thing. Winter does a solid job of demystifying what exactly blockchain is, and explaining why some entities – including the US government and the financial industry – might be threatened. This latter idea is personified in the case of Lauri Love, a British hacktivist on the autism spectrum who is being threatened with extradition to the US, where he may face up to 99 years in prison. Love’s plight is directly connected to the tragic story of Aaron Swartz, who was hounded by persecution to eventually take his own life. Where the film is a bit less successful is in its too-sketchy look at blockchain’s current and hoped for applications beyond cryptocurrency. The survey provided here offers a libertarian utopian promise, but without digging deeply enough into its reality.

Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, October 23:
21 X NEW YORK

Director:
Piotr Stasik

Premiere:
Krakow 2016

Select Festivals:
Docs Against Gravity, DocPoint, Docs Barcelona, Durban

About:
Stray thoughts from a diverse group of NYC subway riders.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

New to DVD this week:
ONE OCTOBER

Director:
Rachel Shuman

Premiere:
Full Frame 2017

Select Festivals:
IFF Boston

About:
A portrait of New York City in October 2008.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to theatres today, Friday, October 19:
BREWMASTER

Director:
Douglas Tirola

Premiere:
SXSW 2018

Select Festivals:
Cleveland, Napa Valley, Dallas, Traverse City, Seattle, Berkshire

About:
An inside look at the world of craft beer.

Tirola explores the rise in popularity of craft beers over the past two decades in this ode to hops and barley. The film surveys numerous established brewmasters about what they’ve love about the beverage and how they got started in the field, offering some historical context, but is more interesting in its focus on two younger amateurs who have become obsessed with homebrewing: Drew, a lawyer dreaming of opening his own brewery, and Brian, who is studying to pass the notoriously challenging Master Cicerone exam. While viewers not particularly into the drink may not respond to the film with quite as much passion, beer lovers will find much to appreciate.