TPB AFK: The Pirate Bay Away From Keyboard is a 2013 Swedish documentary film directed and produced by Simon Klose. It focuses on the lives of the three founders of The Pirate Bay – Peter Sunde, Fredrik Neij, and Gottfrid Svartholm – and the Pirate Bay trial.[1] Filming began sometime in 2008, and concluded on 28 February 2012.[2]
| TPB AFK: The Pirate Bay Away From Keyboard | |
|---|---|
 Promotional release poster | |
| Directed by | Simon Klose |
| Screenplay by | Simon Klose |
| Produced by |
|
| Starring | |
| Edited by | Per K. Kirkkegaard |
| Music by | Ola Fløttum |
Production companies | Nonami AB, Final Cut For Real, Piraya Film AS |
Release date |
|
Running time | 82 minutes |
| Countries | Sweden, Denmark, Norway |
| Languages | Swedish English English (subtitles) |
Production
editThe 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.[3] The campaign was fully funded within three days and raised $51,424 in total.[4][5] In February 2011, the Swedish Arts Grants Committee (Swedish: Konstnärsnämnden) granted the project an additional 200,000 SEK (≈$30,000).[6]
Release
editThe full film was released under the Creative Commons BY-NC-ND license onto The Pirate Bay, YouTube, and other BitTorrent sites. Additionally, a four-minute shorter version with certain copyright restricted content removed was released at the same time under the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license to allow remixing.[7]
TPB AFK premiered at the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival on 8 February 2013 – opening the festival's 'Panorama Dokumente' section – coinciding with its free online release on YouTube and The Pirate Bay.[8][9]
On 19 February 2013, the film was broadcast on BBC Four in the UK as part of the BBC's Storyville documentary series.[10]
Reception
editPeter Sunde, one of the subjects of the documentary, wrote that he has "mixed feelings about the movie and the release of it". Whilst he likes the technical side of the documentary, he has issues with some scenes and general attitude of the documentary; 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.[11]
Censorship by Hollywood
editIn May 2013, Hollywood studios – such as Viacom, Paramount, Fox and Lionsgate – started to censor Google Search links pointing to the documentary, an action criticized by Simon Klose.[12][13] In June, after the initial controversy, HBO and Lionsgate sent additional bogus DMCA takedown notices to Google requesting the removal of links related to TPB AFK. In response, Simon Klose contacted Chilling Effects, who recommended that he file a DMCA counter-notice once he had found out whether Google had taken down the links or not. Two months later, the censored links were reinstated only after public complaints made by Klose.[14]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "The Film". tpbafk.tv. Archived from the original on 26 October 2013. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
- ^ Klose, Simon (28 February 2012). "The making of the last scene". tpbafk.tv. Archived from the original on 23 December 2013. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
- ^ Ernesto (27 August 2010). "Pirate Bay The Movie To Be Funded By Peers". TorrentFreak. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
- ^ Ernesto (31 August 2010). "Pirate Bay Movie Fully Funded in Three Days". TorrentFreak. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
- ^ Klose, Simon (4 October 2010). "5124 thank you's!". tpbafk.tv. Archived from the original on 20 October 2013. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
- ^ Pettersson, Tina (2 February 2011). "Arbetsstipendier och projektbidrag till teater-, dans- och filmkonstnärer beslutade" [Work grants and project grants to theater, dance, and film artists decided] (in Swedish). Konstnärsnämnden. Archived from the original on 9 August 2020. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
- ^ Klose, Simon (31 January 2013). "Why I chose Creative Commons for TPB AFK". tpbafk.tv. Archived from the original on 15 November 2013. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
- ^ Ernesto (22 January 2013). "Pirate Bay Documentary First Ever to Premiere Online and at a Major Festival". TorrentFreak. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
- ^ Ernesto (8 February 2013). "TPB AFK: Watch and Download The Pirate Bay Documentary NOW". TorrentFreak. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
- ^ "BBC Four – Storyville, The Pirate Bay". BBC. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
- ^ Sunde, Peter (7 February 2011). "TPB AFK – My Review". Peter Sunde. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
- ^ Ernesto (19 May 2013). "Hollywood Studios Censor Pirate Bay Documentary". TorrentFreak. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
- ^ An open letter to the Hollywood studios censoring TPB AFK on YouTube
- ^ Ernesto (7 August 2013). "Hollywood Keeps Censoring Pirate Bay Documentary, Director Outraged". TorrentFreak. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
External links
editMain sites
edit- TPB AFK: The Pirate Bay Away From Keyboard on Kickstarter
- TPB AFK: The Pirate Bay Away From Keyboard at IMDb
- TPB AFK: The Pirate Bay Away From Keyboard at the Swedish Film Institute Database
- TPB AFK: The Pirate Bay Away From Keyboard at BBC Online – as part of BBC's Storyville TV documentary strand
Documentary online
edit- TPB AFK: The Pirate Bay Away From Keyboard on The Pirate Bay
- TPB AFK: The Pirate Bay Away From Keyboard on YouTube
- TPB AFK: The Pirate Bay Away From Keyboard is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive