EXCLUSIVE: Minted, the newly minted documentary about the volatile market for NFTs, will make its debut on the PBS series Independent Lens on Monday, January 6.
The film directed by Nicholas Bruckman (Not Going Quietly) explores the stratospheric rise of non-fungible tokens – NFTs — “one of a kind” digital creations that went at breakneck speed from a concept few people understood to a $40 billion juggernaut. Bruckman follows NFT creators from around the world, with particular focus on Beeple, aka Mike Winkelmann, a cheeky artist who describes his work this way: “[H]e makes a variety of art crap across a variety of media. some of it is ok, but a lot of it kind of blows ass. he’s working on making it suck less everyday though so bear with him… :)”
We have your first look at the film in the trailer above.
Beeple astonished the world in 2021 when his NFT entitled “Everydays: the First 5,000 Days” sold for over $69 million dollars at auction. The NFT market peaked not long after that and then crashed, as Minted explores.
“This started as a digital art movement,” one expert notes in the trailer, “but it transformed into one of the largest financial collapses in American history.”
Minted premiered at Tribeca Festival in 2023, going on to screen at CPH:DOX in Copenhagen, Berlin Documentary Festival (Dokumentale), Double Exposure Film Festival, and Cleveland International Film Festival, among others.
An NFT in ‘Minted’
NFT Film LLC/Independent Lens
In the Tribeca Festival program, Dan Hunt wrote, “Bruckman doesn’t shy away from presenting the critical voices within the NFT conversation and gives ample screen time to critics who question the long-term viability and social implications of NFTs. It’s a fascinating exploration of the perils and possibilities of this volatile and vibrant world, offering insights into the very essence of human creativity, the value of art, and the transformative power of technology.”
Director Nicholas Bruckman
People’s Television
Minted is written, directed, and produced by Nicholas Bruckman, produced and executive produced by Rahilla Zafar, and written and produced by Shawn Hazelett. The film is a production of People’s Television, Inc., the award-winning film, TV, and branded content studio founded by Bruckman.
The global NFT market has rebounded recently. Bruckman tells Deadline, “I think it’s important especially right now that audiences – including those who have written this all off as a fad/scam –– understand the promise and peril of this much-maligned technology.”
Watch the Minted trailer above.