World Premiere
The YouTube Effect
Spotlight Documentary
Feature | United States, Brazil, Germany, India, Taiwan R.O.C., Chile | 99 MINUTES | EnglishDocumentary, Politics, Technology
Alex Winter’s newest documentary explores the ascension and potential fall of YouTube, the world’s most popular video-sharing website. Launched in 2005 with a video of a trip to the zoo, YouTube has built itself into an empire worth up to $300 billion dollars. In order to incentivize its creators and keep users engaged, it has created an algorithm that tries to predict what users will be most interested in. The basic idea is simple: make your content just the right way, and it will be promoted to users all over the world. However, the algorithm has created unforeseen privacy and ethical problems that could be the website’s downfall.
YouTubers, reporters, and experts alike join Winter in interrogating the effects that such irregulation can result in. With sharp editing and an anxiety-inducing message about the way social media controls our lives, The YouTube Effect is a startling but necessary look at a website that has become so intertwined with our daily lives. —Cara Cusumano
Cast & Credits
Directed by
Alex Winter
Alex Winter entered show business as a child actor, co-starring on Broadway in The King & I and Peter Pan, and starring in the Bill & Ted movies. As a director, Winter’s narrative
features include Freaked and Fever. Documentaries include Downloaded, Deep Web, The Panama Papers, Showbiz Kids and Zappa.
Director
Alex Winter
Producer
Alex Winter, Gale Anne Hurd, Glen Zipper
Screenwriter
Alex Winter
Cinematographer
Peter Nicoll
Editor
Weston Cadwell
Executive Producer
Michael Cho, Mimi Rode, Tim Lee, Michael Y. Chow, Kevin Lin, Sue Turley, Ian Orefice, Rebecca Teitel, Mike Beck
Original Music
Paul Haslinger
Music Supervisor
Tracy McKnight
Co-Producers
Devorah DeVries, Jade AlFitz, Phillip Kobylanski
Cast
Caleb Cain, Steve Chen, Carrie Goldberg Loann, Ryan and Shion Kaji, Anthony Padilla, Andy Parker, Susan Wojcicki, Brianna Wu, Natalie Wynn
Contacts
Press Contact
Print Source
International Sales Contact
US Sales Contact
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