When it comes to reality and hard-hitting stories, the real deal comes from documentaries. Moviegoers and art lovers jointly love documentaries that help us get in touch with reality, as they talk about conditions and situations that happen around us. Documentaries are powerful, hard-hitting and intense at the same time. But if you are not a documentary person, then here are some of the best documentaries for you to start with.

Pina (2011)

Director Wim Wenders creates magic with every frame in this documentary about his friend Pina Bausch. She was an internationally acclaimed choreographer and dancer who faced an unexpected death during the production of this documentary. The rest of the members who knew the Pina, went ahead to share their thoughts on the documentary which features dance performances shot in 3D. It can be classified as a celebration of art and makes you wonder about a beautiful creation called the human body.

The Work (2017)

As part of the rehabilitation process, level four inmates of the Polson Prison meet for a three-day intensive group therapy session. The convicts reach deep inside one another, as they pay a visit to their past life that remains as the sole reasons for their violent behaviour. The documentary plays it well when it destroys the notions about masculinity through the character that it portrays. Certain moments are terrifying and heartbreaking, so missing this documentary might be a bad idea.

Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck (2015)

We all know about the infamous life of Kurt Cobian. The singer was only 27 and was one of the world’s most famous musicians, and that was a compliment that Kurt wouldn’t have liked. Years after his tragic demise, this documentary tries to bring the world of Cobain through the words of his bandmates from Nirvana, his loved ones and his personal audio recordings. Apart from his music career, the documentary talks about his mental health, relationship with Courtney Love and his journey as an artist.

Man On Wire (2012)

James Marsh’s ‘Man On Wire” displays all you need to know about the world-famous Philippe Petit. The high wire artist took the world by storm when he walked across a wire between the world trade centres balancing himself over 1000 feet in the air. This particular documentary features his method and sense of planning, all before he opted to try this death-defying stunt. The members of his crew are also highlighted, as they go about setting up the wire for the act. With all the planning and the detailing, the documentary at times feels like a heist. It can also be looked upon as a portrait of the twin towers way before the attack on 9/11.

The Supreme Court decided not to grant the Pirate Bay founders an appeal leave, which means that the previous verdict of jail sentences and $6.8 million in damages will stand.

It also means that we can start planning the release of TPB AFK.

There is still much work left however. Right now we’re half way through the edit. We hope to have a roughcut ready by summer and do the post production, sound editing and music after that.

Hopefully we can premiere the film on a film festival and on the internet simultaneously, probably sometime late 2012.

Thanks for your patience!

To share the film will benefit me as a filmmaker

I’m privileged to have found my dream job. I make documentaries because that’s what I love doing and I think stories, occasionally, can change peoples’ perception of the world. But also to pay rent, travel and afford my great workaholic slacker life. The more people that see my work, the greater the impact of the film. The more people discuss the future of the internets the better for us all. By sharing the film for free I’m also spreading my name, which I believe will help me finance my future films. Furthermore I believe the film will sell better if I make it available on the many platforms people want to consume it on – even if I give it away for free.

You don’t need permission to copy and share my film. But you can’t make money off it

The documentary TPB AFK:The Pirate Bay Away from Keyboard is a film about internet culture – and inevitably about sharing information online. The nature of the problem in the documentary is the paradigm shift of the internet, where the possibility to share information is out of sync with the right to share information. By using a Creative Commons license I am making it legal for the audience to copy and share the film.

Creative Commons licenses are created to help people share culture on the internet

Creative Commons does not substitute Copyright, it is based on Copyright. Instead of saying “All Rights Reserved”, it gives creators a tool to say “Some Rights Reserved”. This allows musicians, writers or filmmakers like myself to decide how people may use their work by choosing between a few licenses. I have chosen the license Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivs which means that people can copy and distribute the film for non commercial purposes, as long as they attribute it to our production company Nonami and don’t remix it.

When partnering with 6 TV-networks it was important to secure that competing channels weren’t allowed to air the film. The Non-Commercial clause solves that. The clause is problematic however, since it also automatically classifies many small independent blogs that use google adwords as commercial. Therefore I have added a clause that let’s me waive the Non-Commercial term on the condition that such a waiver does not infringe the broadcasters TV-rights.

A week ago we successfully finished our crowd funding campaign at kickstarter. We raised 51424 USD from 1737 backers. Yes, that’s about 29 dollars per backer.

During our one month adventure we had over 400 000 unique visitors from more than 170 countries checking out our campaign. I had no idea we had support from Honolulu and Curitiba to Jakarta and Novosibirsk. Now that I now, it’s hard to stop smiling.

In court it’s been a hectic week filming. In the new Swedish court system you are not allowed to enter any new evidence in the Court of Appeal. So we are watching videos from the interrogations done in the District Court last year.

Watching the absent Anakata answering questions on a screen in court felt like watching the extra material of the film I’m making. Which is almost as meta as Tiamo wearing a t-shirt with the cover artwork of the film while I’m shooting it.

Episode 3 of A Swedish Perspective is finally up. Animating by hand takes time so bear with us, the last two episodes are coming soon.

Saludos from the balcony where the kickstarter campaign was made!