Anyone heard of this movie yet? I watched this excellent documentary yesterday on copyright law, and I think it applies here. It's Rip: A Remix Manifesto by Canadian filmmaker and web-activist Brett Gaylor about copyright vs. the current generation. Remixing music and media has become increasingly popular with the advent of the internet, but the copyright laws have not changed to accommodate this new obsession.

The film goes through the points in Lawrence Lessig's "remix manifesto," which focuses on the ways our current culture is derived from, and yet somehow controlled by the past. Copyright law is something I've always wanted to know more about (being a collage artist), and I think this film covers it pretty succinctly.

The film also talked about the cultural differences between the US and Brazil, which I was really interested to learn. The US tries to control and prevent people from "remixing" our past, and Brazil proudly accepts that our current culture is all about remixing. I want to make a point here that there are so many brilliant collage artists that are from Brazil, and it makes sense that the music and film domains would be the same.

The film is getting a pretty wide release, and so it should be coming somewhere near you soon (See the trailer above). Brett Gaylor also has a project called Open Source Cinema, where you can join in and actually remix the film yourself!

I would be interested in hearing what you (readers) have to say about issues with collage and copyright. I know it's something a lot of collagists are wary of.