While most filmmakers shy away from anything remotely related to BitTorrent, Swedish director Skina Bergman has partnered with The Pirate Bay for the release of her latest movie. Today the film, titled “Die Beauty”, debuts in Swedish theaters as well as on The Pirate Bay.
Die Beauty is described by its makers as a surreal thriller set in a feverish fairytale world. A story about friendship and alienation, family ties and kindred blood.
The film tells the story of a group of girls who are looking for some excitement. They figure that discovering a dead body floating down the river would be ideal, and as in most fairytales, wishes can come true.
Tonight the film premiered offline at the Bio Rio theater in Stockholm, Sweden. However, the filmmakers didn’t want to limit the release to an offline venue. With that in mind they are quite possibly the first to have also arranged a premiere on the largest BitTorrent site on the Internet – The Pirate Bay.
A dual premiere is quite unusual, and The Pirate Bay fully support the idea as they are actively promoting the release of Die Beauty on their homepage. Obviously, the filmmakers don’t mind being in the spotlight at all.
“For me a release on The Pirate Bay was an obvious thing to do because I believe that it, without competition, is the best way to promote a film today,” director Skina Bergman told TorrentFreak commenting on her unusual move.
While Hollywood traditionally sees The Pirate Bay as a threat, Skina Bergman recognizes that it may actually benefit the film. “Not only do I get thousands of viewers on the web, I am also convinced that the release will increase the number of people watching it on the big screen,” Skina said.
Instead of having a potential audience of a few hundred people, now millions can see it in their own homes at their own convenience. The makers think that the unlimited availability, and the free promotion that comes with it, may actually boost theater visits and thus boost revenues instead of hurting it.
“It’s a fact that people watch more movies when the access increases, and that’s a good thing. As a filmmaker I want to take advantage of that,” Skina noted, adding, “I hope to prolong the life of Die Beauty. I want to give the film a fair chance to be seen by as many people as possible.”
The film, including subtitles for non-Swedes, just premiered on The Pirate Bay and can be downloaded for free. It is released under a BY-NC-SA Creative Commons License which allows the public to copy and remix the film for non-commercial purposes as long as they give credit to the makers.
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