Cicada 3301: An Internet Mystery

things that won't die(es)

After finding some videos she uploaded to YouTube when she was a child, Manuela attempts to follow the trail she herself has left on the Internet. A search that looks into all that things that won't never die and that, especially, thinks about the way we look at ourselves.

Lord of the Toys(de)

Max "Adlersson" Herzberg, 20 years of age, from Dresden decided not to spend his life working. Ever since, he reviews knives and other products, unboxes limited fan editions of mainly gangsta rap albums, gives talks about himself, drinks, swears and bawls in town, humiliates others, cracks borderline jokes and crosses every boundary he sees - Max is a YouTube creator and makes a decent living off of it. Most of Max's friends have their own channels on YouTube, some even quite successfully. Max and his gang are dubious role models but without a doubt, they are celebrities of their generation having more than 300.000 active fans. Is Max a violence-glorifying influencer with far-right tendencies or a usual adolescent, just trying to find himself and happens to be born into a time where the lines between private life and public self-display are blurring? He might be both, possibly without being overly aware of it.

Pulse(ja)

In the immense city of Tokyo, the darkness of the afterlife lurks some of its inhabitants who are desperately trying to escape the sadness and isolation of the modern world.

The Beginner's Guide to Spinning in Loops(en)

From June 2021 to June 2022, Justin "Jastun" Bland records whatever that is in front of him. He presents an abstract montage of collected videos varying from onscreen recordings to filming special, intimate & mundane in-real-life moments. This short captures our daily routines in life and how we choose to spontaneously record them.

Startup.com(en)

Friends since high school, 20-somethings Kaleil Isaza Tuzman and Tom Herman have an idea: a Web site for people to conduct business with municipal governments. This documentary tracks the rise and fall of govWorks.com from May of 1999 to December of 2000, and the trials the business brings to the relationship of these best friends. Kaleil raises the money, Tom's the technical chief. A third partner wants a buy out; girlfriends come and go; Tom's daughter needs attention. And always the need for cash and for improving the site. Venture capital comes in by the millions. Kaleil is on C-SPAN, CNN, and magazine covers. Will the business or the friendship crash first?

The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz(en)

Programming prodigy and information activist Aaron Swartz achieved groundbreaking work in social justice and political organizing. His passion for open access ensnared him in a legal nightmare that ended with the taking of his own life at the age of 26.

Freenet(pt)

The I Inside(en)

When Simon awakens in the hospital after surviving a near-fatal accident, amnesia has erased the last two years from his memory. He learns that his brother was killed, he has married a woman he doesn't remember and he's haunted by strange visions of the woman he loved.

David Baddiel Social Media, Anger and Us(en)

This is a thoughtful and mature documentary that considers whether online rage has real-world consequences. Baddiel has experienced antisemitic abuse on Twitter, where he has 785,000 followers. He has had brushes with what is called “cancel culture” and “callout culture”, when users have criticised his use of blackface on TV in the 1990s, for which he has apologised. He is also a self-confessed social media addict – by which he really means Twitter, his primary focus here – and self-aware enough to admit that while he feels he needs it to promote his work, he also understands that he has a psychological need for an audience, and by extension, for audience approval.

El perfecto cerdo(es)

One of the first works by María Cañas, an excessive metadiscursive exercise on the “pig character” of current information and archive culture.

Host(en)

Six friends hire a medium to hold a séance via Zoom during lockdown — but they get far more than they bargained for as things quickly go wrong. When an evil spirit starts invading their homes, they begin to realise they might not survive the night.

Untraceable(en)

Special Agent Jennifer Marsh works in an elite division of the FBI dedicated to fighting cybercrime. She thinks she has seen it all, until a particularly sadistic criminal arises on the Internet. This tech-savvy killer posts live feeds of his crimes on his website; the more hits the site gets, the faster the victim dies. Marsh and her team must find the elusive killer before time runs out.

Vanilla Sky(en)

David Aames has it all: wealth, good looks and gorgeous women on his arm. But just as he begins falling for the warmhearted Sofia, his face is horribly disfigured in a car accident. That's just the beginning of his troubles as the lines between illusion and reality, between life and death, are blurred.

Shakespeare: The Hidden Truth(en)

Was the legendary playwright William Shakespeare really the author of his acclaimed plays? Or was he just a straw man working for a secret society? Norwegian organist and researcher Petter Amundsen claims to have a solid theory on the subject. Shakespearean scholar Robert Crumpton decides to travel to Norway to meet him.

Wi-Find: Downloading Our Future(en)

It's a genius story that all started with a silly word, Google. While most may know Google, few know the story of the revolution's geniuses. Follow masterminds, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, whose brilliance has forever changed the world.

Bellingcat: Truth in a Post-Truth World(en)

A first-hand look into the revolutionary rise of the “citizen investigative journalist” collective known as Bellingcat. Comprised of various distinct personalities from around the globe, Bellingcat is an online association of talented and dedicated truth-seekers utilizing advanced digital research techniques to upend the world of journalism. De facto leader Eliot and his fellow researchers give us exclusive access into their tight-knit world as they demonstrate the unlimited power of open source investigation. In cases ranging from the MH17 disaster to the hidden crimes of the Syrian regime, the group’s power and growing global influence is examined and explored.

Enigma(en)

The story of the WWII project to crack the code behind the Enigma machine, used by the Germans to encrypt messages sent to their submarines.

Feed(en)

A cybercrime investigator tracks a man suspected of force-feeding women to death.

C U Soon(ml)

Jimmy meets Anu on an online dating website and decides to marry her. Jimmy's mother entrusts his cousin Kevin to get details about Anu. Now it's Kevin's turn to search for his cousin's fiancee who vanished without a trace, only to discover dark, shocking truths about her.

Free Child(en)

From leaving Egypt 10 years ago, to almost dying a month ago in a car accident. This film is about the journey in between and the massive role the internet played in the life of prominent Youtuber and Yes Theory co-founder Ammar Kandil.