AFI-Discovery Channel SILVERDOCS 2009

Corporate overlords, take note: Remixers are on to you and your slow squeeze on public-domain works that were free when you wanted to sample them but are now privately owned and fiercely protected at the expense of fair use and freedom of speech. Mash this: RIP: A REMIX MANIFESTO is shattering the wall between users and producers and will “copyfight” and crowd-source you to oblivion. Web activist and filmmaker Brett Gaylor explores copyrights in the Information Age, raising questions about the nature of creativity and commerce. The documentary features mash-up artist Girl Talk, Creative Commons founder Lawrence Lessig, Brazilian Minister of Culture Gilberto Gil and BoingBoing.net founder Cory Doctorow. RIP shows their efforts to make all information available for public use and to reclaim broader definitions of original work and set limits on privatizing ideas. The film itself is a participatory media experiment. Gaylor shares raw footage online and incorporates sequences remixed by other filmmakers, animators and students into the film. RIP has evolved as the film has traveled the festival circuit, and SILVERDOCS joins the experiment to screen a never-before-seen version of the documentary here in Washington, DC—ground zero for the legislative assaults on copyright to come.

Post-screening performance on 6/17 by audiovisual remix kings Eclectic Method.

Filmmaker Q&A

Introduce yourself:
Brett Gaylor has made begging to differ from the corporate masters his life mission” – so says Canada’s The Globe and Mail.  With a career dedicated to social documentary and new media, he is the creator of Open Source Cinema, a social network to help filmmakers create in collaboration with their audience. He is also the web producer of the Homeless Nation.org, a web project dedicated to bridging the digital divide, which has won the Canada New Media Award for excellence in Social Media, and the United Nations World Summit Award for e-content. Brett’s feature documentary, RIP! A REMIX MANIFESTO has played festivals around the world, been broadcast internationally, and has had a theatrical release in North America, Europe and Australia.  Brett has been on staff at the Montreal social documentary house EyeSteelFilm for 6 years as an editor, music supervisor, director and head of New Media.

What inspired this film?   How did you find your subjects?
I found my subjects online - by immersing myself in digital culture. I read Larry Lessig's books in 2002-2003 and began following the Free Culture movement, and I've always been a big fan of sample-based music.  It’s a fairly small world, so I just introduced myself, and was really stubborn!

What were some of the biggest challenges/surprises?
The legal challenges were obviously huge - we had to consult armies of lawyers and activists to really push the boundaries of fair use. Because we wanted to release the film, we had to make sure we had a plan and a defense for every use of copyrighted material, which meant several hundred clips.  It still occupies a large portion of my day.

Who are some of your favorite filmmakers?
Errol Morris, Michael Moore, Bruce Conner, Daniel Cross, Peter Mettler.

What is your all time favorite documentary?
Impossible!  I'm going with PICTURE OF LIGHT by Peter Mettler.

What other projects are in the pipeline?
Developing Open Source Cinema as a collaborative platform for all filmmakers, and making a feature doc in collaboration with users of HomelessNation.org.

Why did you become a filmmaker?
To raise shit.

What are some of your creative influences?
Culture jammers like Negativland, experimental filmmakers such as Len Lye + Arthur Lipsett, Canadian indie filmmakers like Bruce Macdonald, Velcrow Ripper, and Mark Achbar.

Did you go to film school?
Yes!  I went to Concordia University in Montreal, where I met most of the filmmakers I continue to work with today,

What do you shoot on?
We shot RIP all digital on the HVX-200.  Our other shooting format was YouTube.

What has been the most unexpected thing to happen since taking the film on the festival circuit?
That it’s still on the festival circuit!  We're booked through till the fall, which will be one year since we launched at the Festival Nouveau Cinema in Montreal.  I also had a baby girl during my festival run, so that kept things interesting!

Why did you want to screen your film at SILVERDOCS?
We love the fest at our production company EyeSteelFilm - we make an effort to come every year since screening CHAIRMAN GEORGE in 2005. I've also been lucky to do a few panel discussions as part of the conference, and so I wanted to bring things full circle and screen the film.