WHAT OTHER DOCUMENTARIES HAVE THERE BEEN?
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Technically, there's been no documentary to my knowledge that has
centered around the BBS itself. However, there have been a number
of documentaries with computer users and their cultures as the
focal point. Since some folks might be a little impatient while
waiting for me to produce content, here's some other projects of
a somewhat similar nature you might want to browse.
NEW YORK CITY HACKERS Excellent film capturing several disparate Hacker cultures: The H2K Convention in New York City in 2000, a 2600 meeting in Citicorp Center, and, as a bonus, the MIT Model Railroad Club. Mentions of DeCSS, Politics, and where Hackers place in society.
FREEDOM DOWNTIME The Editor-in-Chief of 2600 Magazine spent years producing this documentary about several of the heavy-handed ways hackers have been treated across the last decade. The focus is on Kevin Mitnick, but other causes of 2600 magazine over the years, including Bernie S. and Phiber Optik, make an appearance. The film is told in a narrative style, with Goldstein explaining the joy of hacking and the way that the hackers he has known have come under the crushing blows of the government (and the inaccurate portayals by the media). Well done.
MINDCANDY VOLUME ONE: PC DEMOS Anyone who remembers the "Demo Scene" will be excited to know that a group of players from the early days of the PC-compatible Demo days have put together a collection of demos on direct DVD, avoiding the problem of finding compatible equipment to experience the originals. Work is still continuing on them, but the project looks like it has amazing potention to set a new standard in this field.
QUAKERS: THE DOCUMENTARY A fun documentary centering around a Quake Tourney in Texas with a $100,000 purse. Profanity laden and nicely put together.
DISINFORMATION Josh Becker hangs with the members of the Cult of the Dead Cow in various spots around San Francisco, including New Hack City, to hear their opinions on the meaning of Hacking, the lack of security on the Internet and on Windows Machines, and which historical figure had the most pornography of his time.
THE CODE
The story of Linux and the people behind it. I haven't seen it, but those
stills look great. The movie is currently being shown on Finnish television
and film festivals.
THE STORY OF COMPUTER GRAPHICS
An overview of the dawn of computer graphics to the cutting edge of 1999.
Created by SIGGRAPH, the top computer graphics organization, the film traces
the roots of graphics from the early experiments of the 1950's and up
through the breakthroughs of the 1970's and 1980's. Interviews with all
sorts of important figures abound.
UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS
I have not personally seen this film, years in the making and featuring some of
the "big names" (as considered by a spate of books) of the more known hackers of
the early 1990's (some of them having gotten fame in the 1980's). I'm sure it'll
show up eventually, however.
ONCE UPON ATARI
Howard Scott Warshaw, programmer of the Atari 2600 games "Yars Revenge" and "E.T."
has put together a four-episode series about his days at Atari. He's interviewed
dozens of folks who did work on the Atari 2600 and worked at the company.
OH KAY, COMPUTER
A Documentary on the life of Kay McNulty Mauchly Antonelli, a pioneer in the
creation of the electronic computer.
GAMERS
Large (6 episodes) series of documentaries about the computer gaming culture.
Looks like it tells the story from the point of view of developers, producers,
and the gamers themselves. Looks quite professional.
FRAG: THE MOVIE
The story of the 3D gaming culture starting with the introduction of Doom in
1993. Appears to be focusing on ID Software specifically, with a strong lean
towards the events of "frag parties", where people haul their computers to
a central place to play high-speed games.
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