TPB AFK

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
TPB AFK: The Pirate Bay Away From Keyboard
Directed by Simon Klose
Produced by Martin Persson
Screenplay by Simon Klose
Starring
Release dates
  • 8 February 2013 (2013-02-08) (Worldwide)
Running time
82 minutes
Country Sweden
Language Swedish
English
English (subtitles)

TPB AFK: The Pirate Bay Away From Keyboard is a documentary film released on 8 February 2013, directed by Simon Klose, based on the lives of the three founders of The Pirate Bay: Peter Sunde, Fredrik Neij and Gottfrid Svartholm.[1] Filming began in Summer 2008, and concluded on 25 February 2012.[2]

Production[edit]

The film's website was launched on 28 August 2010, along with a Kickstarter campaign to raise US$25,000 to hire an editor after the Court of Appeal trial. The campaign was fully funded within three days and raised $51,424 in total.[3][4][5] In February 2011, the Swedish government's Arts Grants Committee Konstnärsnämnden[6] granted the project an additional 200,000 SEK (≈ $30,000).[7]

Release[edit]

Trailer

The full film was released under a Creative Commons[8] license (BY-NC-ND) onto The Pirate Bay and other BitTorrent sites. Also, a four-minute shorter version was released at the same time for those who wish to remix or re-edit their own version of the film, featuring an edit with certain copyright restricted content removed, under a different Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license.

For those who wish to support the creators, apart from online donations, they can buy the DVD version and digital download. The pre-order price of the DVD is $23 and a digital download is $10, which comes with deleted scenes and bonus material. Pre-orders can be made via the official movie website. TPB AFK's premiered at the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival on 8 February 2013,[9] opening the festival's documentary section, and was released online for worldwide free download (or purchase) at exactly the same time on YouTube and on The Pirate Bay.

On 19 February 2013, the film was broadcast on BBC Four in the UK as part of the BBC's Storyville documentary series strand.

Reception[edit]

Peter Sunde, one of the main characters in the film, wrote on his blog, that he has "mixed feelings about the movie and the release of it". While he likes the technical side, he has serious issues with some scenes and general attitude of the film. This includes too much focus put on the trial, too dark depiction of it and portraying himself beyond self recognition. Despite having such different views on the subject, he regards the director as a friend.[10]

Censorship by Hollywood[edit]

On May 2013, Hollywood studios such as Viacom, Paramount, Fox and Lionsgate started to censor Google Search links pointing to the documentary,[11][12] an action criticized by the director of the film Simon Klose.[13] On June, after the initial controversy, HBO and Lions Gate sent additional bogus DMCA takedown notices to Google requesting the removal of links related with the TPB AFK.[14][15] In response, Simon Klose contacted Chilling Effects which recommended him to file a DMCA counter-notice where he explained that the purpose is "to share the film as much as possible".[16] Two months later, the censored links were reinstated only after public complaints made by the film director.[17]

References[edit]

  1. ^ The Film
  2. ^ The making of the last scene
  3. ^ Klose, Simon (4 October 2010). "51424 thank you's!". TPB AFK. Retrieved 22 June 2011. We raised 51424 USD from 1737 backers. 
  4. ^ Pirate Bay the Movie to be funded by Peers TorrentFreak, 27 August 2010
  5. ^ Pirate Bay Movie Funded in Three Days TorrentFreak, 31 August 2010
  6. ^ Welcome to Konstnärsnämnden - the Swedish Arts Grants Committee
  7. ^ "Arbetsstipendier och projektbidrag till teater-, dans- och filmkonstnärer beslutade" (in Swedish). Konstnärsnämnden. 24 February 2011. Retrieved 22 June 2011. Inom filmområdet beviljades de större projektbidragen om 200 000 kr bl. …till Simon Klose för filmprojektet om The Pirate Bay. 
  8. ^ Why I chose Creative Commons for TPB AFK
  9. ^ TPB AFK: The Pirate Bay Away From Keyboard
  10. ^ Sunde, Peter (7 February 2013). "TPB AFK – My Review". Peter Sunde's blog. Retrieved 20 February 2013. 
  11. ^ Hollywood Studios Censor Pirate Bay Documentary
  12. ^ Major Hollywood Studios All Sent Bogus DMCA Takedowns Concerning The Pirate Bay Documentary
  13. ^ An open letter to the Hollywood studios censoring TPB AFK on YouTube
  14. ^ DMCA (Copyright) Complaint to Google - Chilling Effects Clearinghouse. Chillingeffects.org. Retrieved on 2014-02-21.
  15. ^ DMCA (Copyright) Complaint to Google - Chilling Effects Clearinghouse. Chillingeffects.org. Retrieved on 2014-02-21.
  16. ^ Google ignores TPB AFK-censoring
  17. ^ Hollywood Keeps Censoring Pirate Bay Documentary, Director Outraged

External links[edit]

Main sites[edit]

Social networking sites[edit]

Documentary online[edit]