How do you explain the Internet? Explaining the virtual currency Bitcoin is fairly hard as well – but Director Nicholas Mross and co-author and editor Patrick Lope pulled it off, documenting the hype and the burst bubbles of this “digital gold”. THE RISE AND RISE OF BITCOIN tracks the Internet phenomenon from its start in 2008 through a rollercoaster ride up to the latest news about the first big players of the “netgame for humanity” being arrested and/or going bankrupt in 2014, shortly before the film premièred at Tribeca Film Festival in April 2014. The documentary tells the story of Bitcoin from Daniel Mross’s perspective, the director’s brother, father of three, avid libertarian and Bitcoin fan from the start. Mross and Lope did the screenwriting together with Daniel, and made this complex piece of nerdspeak and online culture into an intriguing and almost journalistic piece of information. Nicholas Mross told me actually, that he would have liked to have more sceptical voices. At least he found one person ready to voice their concerns on what might just be a hype that will go away. But who knows? The open source code at the basis of Bitcoin is written, the Internet does not forget, and cryptography already changed the world. If it can save the world remains to be seen. THE RISE AND RISE OF BITCOIN had its international première at Zurich Film Festival and will screen next at Stockholm Film Festival.
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