RiP!: A Remix Manifesto

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RiP!: A Remix Manifesto is a 2008 open source documentary film about "the changing concept of copyright" directed by Brett Gaylor.

Created over a period of six years, the documentary film features the collaborative remix work of hundreds of people who have contributed to the Open Source Cinema website, helping to create the "world's first open source documentary" as Gaylor put it. The project's working title was Basement Tapes, (referring to the album of the same name) but it was renamed RiP!: A Remix Manifesto prior to theatrical release. Gaylor encourages more people to create their own remixes from this movie, using media available from the Open Source Cinema website, or other websites like YouTube, Flickr, Hulu, or MySpace.

1 Characters
2 Festivals and Awards
3 RiP!: A Remix Manifesto 2.0
4 See also

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Characters

The documentary is particularly interested in the legal grey area of remixing existing works. The film features appearances by:

Gregg Gillis (better known as Girl Talk) an American musician specializing in mashup-style remixes, which often use a dozen or more unauthorized samples from different songs to create an entirely new track.
Lawrence Lessig, an American academic and political activist, and a professor of law at Stanford Law School and founder of its Center for Internet and Society. He is best known as a proponent of reduced legal restrictions on copyright, trademark, and radio frequency spectrum, particularly in technology applications.
Cory Doctorow, a Canadian blogger, journalist and science fiction author. Doctorow is co-editor of the blog Boing Boing and is an activist in favor of reforming copyright laws. He is a proponent of the Creative Commons organization, using some of their licenses for his books. Common themes in his work include digital rights management and file sharing.
Gilberto Gil, the Brazilian musician and former Minister of Cultural Affairs who initiated pioneering programs in Brazil through a partnership with Creative Commons. As Minister, he sponsored a program called Culture Points, which gives grants to provide music technology and education to people living in poor areas of the country's cities.
Dan O'Neill, an underground cartoonist and founder of the Air Pirates, a group which was famously sued by The Walt Disney Company for copyright infringement.
Jammie Thomas, the single mom successfully sued by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) at the Capitol v. Thomas case for Thomas' illegal downloading. The single mother, who made US$36,000 a year, was ordered to pay US$222,220 in damages for making 24 songs available for download on the Kazaa file-sharing network.

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Festivals and Awards

RiP!: A Remix Manifesto made its international debut at the IDFA (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam) in November 2008. It won the festival's Audience Award.

The film made its US debut at the South by Southwest festival on March 15, 2009.

Macleans called the movie as "a dazzling frontal assault on how corporate culture is using copyright law to muzzle freedom of expression."

Showing at the Whistler Film Festival that took place 4 to 7 December 2008), it also won the Cadillac People’s Choice Award.

At the Festival du Nouveau Cinéma in Montreal it won the Special Jury Prize. It was the closing film at Docs Barcelona It was a Special Selection at the South by Southwest Film Festival, at Les Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois, the Adelaide Film Festival, Thessaloniki Film Festival, Silverdocs, Nashville Film Festival, Victoria International Film Festival, Available Light Film Festival, Buenos Aries Film Festival, Sheffield Doc/Fest and the Munich Dokfest, and it will screen in 2009 in the New Zealand International Film Festivals.

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