Good Copy Bad Copy

As the awareness of the issues surrounding copyright and copyleft increases, filmmakers have begun to take notice and make films which focus on these matters.

Recently, Danish state television aired two such films which are now available for streaming off their website. Simply paste the following link

rtsp://streamer-01.dr.nordija.dk:554/DR2Tema1700.mp4

into a movie player such as VLC (go to “Open Network Stream” and paste the link in the rtsp line) to see the films. The first film starts around 5:10 in the stream, so you can safely skip past the first few minutes.

That first film is a Danish documentary called “Good Copy, Bad Copy” which explores how copyright is interpreted differently in different parts of the world with regards to music and movies. A fascinating example is how Gnarl’s Barkley’s smash hit “Crazy” is reinterpreted by Brazilian remixers as a Tecno Brega song to be played at the Sound System parties of Northern Brazil. It’s well worth the watch. Be warned, though: Subtitles are only available in Danish.

The second film, Alternative Freedom, has much more of a manifesto-like quality which is sure to turn some people (including me) off. Yet it is interesting if you haven’t seen or heard much of the Free Software movement yet (I, for my part, may be a bit overexposed to that rhetoric…)

Oh! Update: I just found a shorter, all-English version of Good Copy, Bad Copy here. I suspect you might be able to download the full version from the Pirate Bay – legally, even.