This looks seriously interesting. A new documentary about Napster — the file sharing service that was many people’s first experience of piracy — is set to debut at South by South West in a couple of months time.
No ad to show here.
The doccie, which is called Downloaded, seems to be a pretty straightforward retelling of how Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker went from being University students to the music industry’s biggest enemies. The project appears to have been made with the Napster founders’ cooperation.
The famous footage of Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich delivering his band’s lawsuit against Napster to its offices obviously makes an appearance, but there’s also the promise of a very young-looking Sean Parker and footage of computers that would be completely unrecognisable to anyone born around the same time as Napster’s ascent.
The film is directed by Alex Winter, best known to pop culture obsessives as “not Keanu Reeves” in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure. There’s no word on whether or not it will be available for legal download.
