What's your response to Peter Sunde's review of TPB AFK?

Would you say his claims that TPB AFK is not an accurate portrayal of events are fair?

We all perceive the world differently - I totally understand Peter's feelings. Having stalked him for almost 5 years, we have been through to a lot together - I consider Peter a good friend. Cutting down 5 years footage into 85 min is a painful process. I made a conscious decision to make a pretty dark film. But with the diverse and often funny footage I had, another filmmaker might just as well have made a comedy. When you try to tell the strongest story possible you prioritize - cut away that joke, edit out that prank, leave the part where he is sick. To me the verdict against TPB is also a verdict against me - as a filmmaker and a filesharer. I hope that my story will make the audience feel rather than think. I also hope Peter agrees that a happy Hollywood end would suck.

With all the controversy around piracy in mind; Have you ever felt pressured by any officials to stop the production of the movie?

No, actually not. I've just had a hard time getting interviews with some of them.

[deleted]

Duplication and theft are two totally different concepts. I think it's sad that people still mix up taking something away from someone with making an identical copy of something.

What is your favorite movie and why?

The Shining cause it still makes me scared.

What equipment did you use to shoot and edit the film?

Spanning from 2008-12, my film production about the distribution revolution is a result of the video camera revolution. I started out with Panasonics DVX-100, shooting DV. I moved on to HD with Panasonic's XH-A1 (that I hate) and finally got hold of the Canon Mark II, which changed how I work today. I love the DSLR's optics, the full frame and the fact that you can be truly independent making high quality films to very low costs. When people say filesharing is killing the film industry one shouldn't forget that the parallell video camera revolution has cut production costs considerably.

what took you soo long to release it if i remember correctly first announcement and subsequent donation drive happened 3+ years ago?

I wanted to document the entire court process which took 3 years. It took me another year to edit and finish the film.

Thanks for making this documentary!

What was your goal with it? What do you want people to take away from it?

I love the internets and I wanted to document a historic struggle that affected my everyday reality. I wanted to have fun. I wanted to understand how to make a buck in the future. I wanted to understand what the media industry meant when they claimed the internet was dangerous for me and my career. I want people to ask themselves what kind of internet they want for our society.

At what time will you exactly release the torrent for the documentary?

17:00 Central European Time in sync with the screening at Berlinale.

I just want to thank the guys at TPB! they make my life so much more awesome! Ive played so many more games, heard so much music, and watched so many more shows that i never would've watched without you guys! How are you guys preparing for the future with all this cyber security and and internet censorship on everyone's mind? What will you do if the internet really is "locked down" eventually?

First at all i'm not one of The Pirate Bay dudes - I just made a film about them. One way of of getting around the censorship is by decentralizing the system - I think that's one of their strategies. For me, as a filmmaker, I see my role as someone who tries to learn and understand how to make a living on making films without interfering with the networks.

The website says you've received about 15K$ through donations. That's awesome, if you ask me. That's before the premiere..

How much are you expecting to receive?

The $15k we have received so far is from pre-sales, not donations. To me that's really amazing. One part of the internet revolution that I feel is really underestimated is the way you can sell stuff directly to your audience. I have really no projections of how much I will sell, but I will be transparent about my sales so other filmmakers can learn from my f-ups.

So... which movie theatres is it going to be screened at? :)

During the Berlinale in this ones: Cinestar and Colosseum. http://www.berlinale.de/en/programm/berlinale_programm/datenblatt.php?film_id=20134071

Hey there, I am looking forward to this film! I want to know, what are your sentiments on the recent 'Anon' Response to the death of Arron Schwartz, do you think they can back up their claims? Do you have any other thoughts on Arron Schwartz, his work, his death or the response to it?

Thanks! I don't really know about Anon's work in this case but from what I've read we all lost a unique voice in the tragic passing of Aaron Schwartz.

1. Did you go to film school or something similar, or did you teach yourself?
2. Once the documentary is out there, do you have any other projects in mind?
3. Were you influenced by any film makers, documentary or otherwise?
   

No, I went to law school. In filmmaking I'm self taught, so to speak, because I learned from working with a few brilliant people. My next film is about a homeless Japanese man in a park in Tokyo.

My biggest influence is my mom.

Has your film been profitable solely running off of donations, and more importantly, was the film worth the time you spent on it?

The film is mainly financed by traditional TV-networks and filminstitutes - the crowdfunding part came to less than 10% of the budget. The process of making this film has been everything from horribly exhausting and annoyingly difficult - to a crazy learning process and super beautiful journey. It's been worth every second!

How will you distribute the film? Regular .torrent? Flash stream? HTTP download? Magnet with DHT?

The keyword is ubiquity - I want my film to be seen by as many people as possible. All peer-2-peer platforms, all streaming platforms, VOD platforms, all traditional platforms. Yes, that's torrents, magnets, TV-channels, DVD's, Youtube, Theatrical, VHS, A-Trak and those shiny laserdiscs.

Will you be at pirate bay party in stockholm on August?

Hope so!

Massive thankyou to TPB, introduced me to a world of new music and reminded me of some old favourites. My question is what do you consider the future of TPB to be?

Hi! Just to clarify again - I'm not part of TPB, I just made a film about TPB. I think that the Pirate Bay will be around until something better comes along. The people behind TPB seem pretty surprised that BitTorrent is still the thing in 2013. I guess the future of TPB is you, me and everyone else sharing stuff - there wouldn't be any TPB without it's peers.

Do you think that media institutions working with pirates, by releasing fairly priced DRM free content, would bring an end to copyright infringement and piracy?

Piracy seems to be a given in all economic systems, I don't think we'll see and end to that. In a sense I guess you're describing my own process, partnering with media institutions and selling my film DRM free to a decent price. I think that people will pirate less if there are decent alternatives, at the moment it's practically impossible to pay to watch new quality films online. Once films are being distributed the way audiences want to consume them, I think we'll see a lot less piracy.

Do you think other countries should learn from Sweden regarding their piracy laws?

Learning from Swedish "piracy laws" is a threat to privacy, innovation and creativity.

Am I going to have to be constantly pausing it to read the subtitles like I was the trailer?

What you mean?

Don't you think by doing "these" kind of illegal matter will get yourself and those who are around you into jail sentence?

Filesharing my film is not illegal. I'm actually really proud to have talked 6 European Public Broadcasters into legalizing their audience's behaviour.