SXSW Film Reviews

OWNED

D: Jennifer Read.

Documentary Feature First Films, World Premiere Here are some words used to describe hackers in Owned, Jennifer Read's stylish study of computer geeks and their shenanigans: adventurer, explorer, (h)activist, visionary, a person having fun, as if on a playground. What's left? Oh, yeah: criminal (also: white, male). Owned is compelling not for its efficient take on the history of hacking (which we can't call "computer hacking" because, as more than one interviewee points out, hacking is modifying any kind of machinery or structure to increase its performance, or just to fuck with someone or something, or both), but because it focuses on several hackers who did some serious time for their transgressions (which include such national security threats as rerouting phone lines so they could win Porsches in a radio-station contest). Owned flows seamlessly from the true-crime silhouette of mystery man Fugrag, to the strangely sad monologues of Kevin Mitncik, once "The FBI's Most Wanted Cybercriminal," to the affable tales of Yippie-era phone phreaks, to the vaguely Burning Man atmosphere of Las Vegas hackfest Defcon, all without telling us whether to think hackers are despicable or heroic. Instead, it does what most good docs do: sits back and lets the geeks tell the story.

A note to readers: Bold and uncensored, The Austin Chronicle has been Austin’s independent news source for over 40 years, expressing the community’s political and environmental concerns and supporting its active cultural scene. Now more than ever, we need your support to continue supplying Austin with independent, free press. If real news is important to you, please consider making a donation of $5, $10 or whatever you can afford, to help keep our journalism on stands.

Support the Chronicle  

READ MORE
More by Cindy Widner
The Cartography of Home: Austin's Atlas
The Cartography of Home: Austin's Atlas
The Chronicle talks to Ann Armstrong of map project Austin's Atlas about the local preservation tool

July 24, 2015

Protect and Preserve
Protect and Preserve
Now that we've freaked out about Austin's unrelenting boom, can we figure out how to keep what's best about the city alive?

July 24, 2015

MORE IN THE ARCHIVES
One click gets you all the newsletters listed below

Breaking news, arts coverage, and daily events

Keep up with happenings around town

Kevin Curtin's bimonthly cannabis musings

Austin's queerest news and events

Eric Goodman's Austin FC column, other soccer news

Information is power. Support the free press, so we can support Austin.   Support the Chronicle