Megaupload and Bitcache creator Kim Dotcom has become the star of his own movie - all about his life’s ‘Shakespearean’ ups and downs.
As the entrepreneur faces US extradition from New Zealand over what has been dubbed the “largest criminal copyright case,” a filmmaker has completed a documentary showing the man behind the headlines.
“People do have strong stands one way or the other, but the legal issues are complex and my position is that his innocence or guilt is really for a court, not me to decide,” Annie Goldson, director of Kim Dotcom: Caught in the Web said quoted in the South China Morning Post.
“The [broader] issues his case raises exceed him as a man. So my hope is that audiences will engage with these broader issues.”
Goldson described Dotcom’s “personal story” as “Shakespearean in its ups and downs.”
Despite being de facto acquitted of copyright infringement under New Zealand law, Dotcom and associates are wanted in the US on charges “including allegations of conspiracy to commit racketeering, copyright infringement, money laundering and wire fraud since 2012,” according to reports covering the latest stage of his trial.
Curiously meanwhile, the film’s production was partly funded by the New Zealand government, itself currently in hot water over revelations it issued contracts to Peter Thiel’s infamous Palantir Technologies.
The movie in fact premiered in the US last week at the South By Southwest festival, while Dotcom was unable to attend, stuck in New Zealand fighting the extradition charge which could leave him there indefinitely.