Richard Clay, art historian and expert on semiotics and iconoclasm and the interplay between new technology and shifts in meaning, compares and contrasts cultural symbols from across the centuries, unpicking iconic images, music, and other cultural outputs to explain where ‘stickiness’ comes from.
self
One of the first works by María Cañas, an excessive metadiscursive exercise on the “pig character” of current information and archive culture.
Dissecting one of the most influential platforms of the contemporary social media landscape, TikTok, Boom. examines the algorithmic, socio-political, economic, and cultural influences and impact of the history-making app. This rigorous exploration balances a genuine interest in the TikTok community and its innovative mechanics with a healthy skepticism around the security issues, global political challenges, and racial biases behind the platform. A cast of Gen Z subjects, helmed by influencer Feroza Aziz, remains at its center, making this one of the most needed and empathetic films exploring what it means to be a digital native.
Using local media footage from the London Borough of Southwark spanning the past 20 years, this documentary discusses complex social issues including gang violence, knife crime, and mental and sexual health.
lXHXN (pronounced however you like) is a non-documentary from the 21st century, a story of self-fulfilling prophecies and vicious circles, addiction narratives and narrative addictions. Composed entirely from footage found on YouTube, it tells the tale of a Disney princess who dared to grow up, and the family and world that swirl around her - and every shining star onwards to the future. It is a question, a prediction and a protest. #freckledfreedom
Reporter Nicolaas Veul decides to set up his first Instagram account and accumulate as many followers as possible. Over time, he becomes more interested in the social network's inner workings and uncovers a well-oiled machine based on fraud. While users enthusiastically give likes to selfies, a brisk business with user accounts is underway behind the scenes. There are huge numbers of fake profiles, and internet bots are producing new followers for those who want to feel more successful. Can anything on Instagram be believed?
Plugged In explores how social media and smart phone usage has an effect on our younger generations, those who are now born into a world technologically ready and know nothing else - and how hard it is to remove this element from their lives in these modern times. It looks into the design of social media being a purposeful tool used to keep people hooked in, taken away from face to face reactions and how the attitudes towards people through these mediums have become darker.
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.
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.
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.
In a culture immersed in technology, Instagram is reviving adventure, face to face community and real relationships. Through sharing the stories of friends old and new, "Instagram Is" sets out to discover the answer to the question "How can something so digital get people out from behind their devices and into the analog world?"
"Cicada 3301: Internet Mystery" explores the enigmatic online puzzle known as Cicada 3301. In a quest that captivated the internet, this video delves into the intricate challenges and cryptographic puzzles presented by Cicada 3301, engaging viewers in the mysterious world of code-breaking and online intrigue.
Posing as a wealthy, jet-setting diamond mogul, an Israeli conman wooed women online then conned them out of millions of dollars. Now some victims plan for payback.
On August 7th 1974, French tightrope walker Philippe Petit stepped out on a high wire, illegally rigged between New York's World Trade Center twin towers, then the world's tallest buildings. After nearly an hour of performing on the wire, 1,350 feet above the sidewalks of Manhattan, he was arrested. This fun and spellbinding documentary chronicles Philippe Petit's "highest" achievement.
Examines Gabby's life through the curated lens she created and immerses the viewer in the world of social media sleuthing that was crucial to the case.
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.
When Casey Neistat first sat down to interview YouTube sensation, David Dobrik, neither of them knew they were about to capture one of the most precipitous rise and falls in the history of the internet... in real-time. David, protected by the belief that he’s just a kid with a camera, has constantly assumed risks. Even as a story of a sexual assault breaks, he’s busy covering up a near-lethal accident caught on film, intended to be entertainment. In the real world, these kinds of actions have life-changing consequences, but in the gold rush ecosystem of Social Media influence, the audience decides who succeeds, and who gets banished forever.
Documentary about legendary Paramount producer Robert Evans, based on his famous 1994 autobiography.