The ten best things we saw in June.
The list below is a (maybe subjective) top ten of the best things we watched on Bundle this June. But the single best thing that we saw this month — the conversation and community created by films like Rubble Kings, GTFO, and A Dangerous Game, among others.
Documentary is so critical to protecting an open creative culture. Yet these filmmakers are constantly challenged by real censorship, and censorship in effect (gatekeepers and limited distribution). Over the course of the past year, we’ve seen documentary and social justice film Bundles exceed ten million downloads and streams. Add these ten to your list.
Rubble Kings
Shan Nicholson’s new documentary’ Rubble Kings is the true story of street gangs, civil rights, and the birth of hip hop culture in early 1970’s New York. Narrated by John Leguizamo, the doc offers first-hand accounts and home video footage from street gang members and leaders; capturing the start of an urban social movement that still reverberates.
A Dangerous Game
Anthony Baxter’s 2011 documentary You’ve Been Trumped exposed the ruthless politics behind luxury resorts: following a Scottish town’s fight to protect their fragile coastline from being leveled for a Trump golf course.
A Dangerous Game picks up where Trumped left off; broadening in scope to investigate the global impact of 1% resorts, and their social, economic, and environmental costs. It’s David and Goliath on the golf course, and there’s reason to be cautiously optimistic.
GTFO
Shannon Sun-Higginson’s 2015 doc GTFO pries open the video game world to explore a $20 billion industry coming to terms with diversity and discrimination. Through interviews with developers, journalists, gamers, and academics, GTFO puts a hard lens on the gendered culture of gaming, and holds us accountable to its future.
The Motel Life
Based on Willy Vlautin’s award-winning novel, The Motel Life is a searing and profound examination of brotherhood set in the timeless Sierra Nevadan frontier. Frank (Emile Hirsch, Into the Wild) and Jerry Lee (Stephen Dorff, Blade Runner, Shadow Boxer) are brothers who get by on telling fantastic stories and creating rich illustrations. When Jerry Lee is involved in a hit-and-run accident, the brothers are forced across the state to the home of Frank’s old flame, Annie (Dakota Fanning, The Twilight Saga). While they seem safe from the law, Jerry Lee’s instability and all-consuming guilt render their future increasingly uncertain.
The Yes Men Are Revolting
For over a decade now, Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno (not their real names) have been the merry pranksters of political activism, posing as climate-change deniers, the US Chamber of Commerce, oil execs, and other nefarious officials in hoaxes designed to highlight hypocrisy in politics and the corporate world. But despite biting satire and belly laughs, fixing the world is not an easy job. The Yes Men Are Revolting follows the further adventures of Bichlbaum and Bonanno, but also highlights the everyday struggles faced by anyone fighting for a better world. For these activists, every political cause is also personal.
In Search of the Most Dangerous Town on the Internet
Râmnicu Vâlcea, Romania has only about 120,000 residents, but among law enforcement experts around the world, it has a nickname: Hackerville. In the last year alone, $1 billion was stolen in the U.S. by Romanian hackers. In Search of the Most Dangerous Town on the Internet explores the little-known town at the heart of the Internet’s digital crime wave.
Just About Famous
Just About Famous shines a spotlight on the overlooked side of celebrity: the lookalikes. Take a trip into the enlightening and often times surreal life of impersonators as a "star studded" cast lead by Elvis, Obama, Lady Gaga and more embark on a journey to one of the premiere celebrity tribute artist conventions.
Nano Man: Utility Fog
For the past few years, Los Angeles-based filmmaker and artist Jeremy Corbell has been interviewing cosmic whistleblowers: people at high levels in US intelligence and scientific organizations who’ve encountered the extraterrestrial. His Extraordinary Beliefs series is a candid, weird, post-modern Twilight Zone: a guide to the everyday and otherworldly all around us. Do you believe that the truth is out there? Watch the first episode of his new series Nano Man right here.
For the Love of Spock
Last November, filmmaker Adam Nimoy embarked on a journey to document the evolution of Mr. Spock, and the man who played him for fifty years: his father. Together, the two began work on the project. In February, Leonard Nimoy passed away. For the Love of Spock captures the life and legacy of a legendary actor, iconic alien, and real, human dad. Support the project on Kickstarter. And subscribe to the BitTorrent Bundle for updates from the filmmaker, plus exclusive content from the documentary, including the original call sheet from Star Trek episode “The Naked Time”.
Slash: Live at the Roxy
In September 2014, Slash ft. Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators took the stage at the legendary Roxy Theatre to an intimate crowd of 700 die-hards to film “Live At The Roxy”. Want to watch a guitar god at work? We’ve got the footage.