The Corporation: Free Filmmakers (Share) Edition

Written by Ernesto on August 24, 2006

Mark Achbar, Producer and Co-director of the award winning documentary “The Corporation” just released an official “share” version of the documentary on BitTorrent.

Why?

Well very simple, it’s better to embrace new technologies like BitTorrent and other filesharing networks, than to fight them. As Mark Achbar puts it:

“When I discovered that over 500,000 people had downloaded The Corporation, I had mixed feelings. As a filmmaker and activist, one of my goals is to reach the largest possible audience. So from that perspective, it’s an astounding success.”

the corporationThe movie discusses the power that large corporations have, and the harm they can do. (take the MPAA and the RIAA for example) Earlier this year Mark Achbar contacted TorrentFreak. He was particulary interested in the power of filesharing, but also the marketing possibilities P2P networks have:

“I agree that the vast majority of those who downloaded The Corporation, if they didn’t also see it in a theatre, or buy the DVD, would have been—and may still be willing to—pay a bit toward the production costs, but there was just no mechanism for them to do it.”

With this “shareware” version of the DVD Mark wanted to give the public a legal opportunity to download, enjoy, and share his movie. However, he encourages the public to donate some money, or buy the DVD if they really like it. Sounds fair.

“THE CORPORATION was a huge undertaking. Over two hundred people helped make the film, the DVD, and website, and worked on the outreach campaign, over a period of 8 years.”

Achbar continues:

“I think most people downloading the film understand what an enormous effort it is to make a film like this and will support it, if there’s a reasonably easy way to. So, I decided to release my own “shareware” version of the film, but with a short message at the beginning, asking viewers for a little financial consideration to help offset the costs of production and keep our outreach efforts going.”

More info:

  • The Corporation “FILMMAKER’S OFFICIAL NET EDITION (DIVX )” can be downloaded over here.
  • The Corporation official homepage
  • If you don't like torrents try MP3 Fiesta. They hold nearly 67,000 albums from nearly 17,000 artists. Prices are around the $0.10 mark for single tracks with full albums coming in at roughly $1.00. Tracks are available from 192kbps and they take major credit cards and PayPal

    Previously: Apple employees fired for downloading leopard

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    15 Responses (Add yours or TrackBack)

    1 Aug 24, 2006 at 22:09 by Thunderfunk

    I illegally downloaded this last year, loved it, and recently purchased the official DVD from a retail outlet… so this business model will work just fine. I recommend this film to EVERYONE! Forget dumbed down MUSTn’t SEE TV and spend your evening on entertainment that feeds your brain, it’ll thank you for it.

    2 Nov 24, 2006 at 01:38 by Knickerbocker

    Keep up the good work, guys (and lady). My wife and I saw the film first run at the Cumberland and I was impressed at you showing up and having an impromptu Q&A with the audience (on a cheapie Tuesday for good measure). “The Corporation” is a reference work for me and more power to you in all your upcoming ventures.

    3 Jan 05, 2007 at 16:34 by Peter

    The download link at chomskytorrents.org for the The Corporation “FILMMAKER’S OFFICIAL NET EDITION (DIVX ) has changed. It now can be downloaded over here.

    4 Jan 09, 2007 at 23:56 by George

    There are no seeds! Please seed.

    5 Jan 27, 2007 at 16:21 by jay

    still no seeders been tryin for a week
    please seed

    6 Apr 02, 2007 at 15:15 by John Bäckstrand

    This torrent has a tracker in it that is actually up, and seeds. One very fast seed aswell (100Mbit likely).

    http://www.mininova.org/tor/497967

    7 Apr 02, 2007 at 15:21 by Ernesto

    [quote comment="78325"]This torrent has a tracker in it that is actually up, and seeds. One very fast seed aswell (100Mbit likely).

    http://www.mininova.org/tor/497967/quote

    Thanks, updated the post

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