greener media

Can you get angry at a guy, even if deep down you appreciate what he’s doing? On the subway platform today, I noticed this guy wedged into a little nook, seemingly hawking bootleg DVD’s. But upon closer inspection I noticed he was giving away FREE documentaries. Sicko, Zeitgeist, The Future of Food, Taxi to the Dark Side, ect; films that raise important questions and challenge the systems in which we live. My first impression was that this dude is awesome. He refused to give his name and said he simply wanted to get the word out as anonymously as possible, most likely spending his own money so that others are exposed to new ideas.

When I told a friend later, his initial reaction was a bit different than mine. Our different outlooks raised an important question. At what point does the message of a particular film become more important than monetization? For any artist, getting your work out there to the world is a priority. Getting paid for it is another. Is there a happy medium? I didn’t enter the world of documentary film production because I thought I’d get rich, but it would be nice to be able to pay all the bills and continue creating stimulating films.

 Truth be told, I live a pretty decent life, so I can’t get too angry at the guy for being a bootlegger, because he’s not.