CWC Docs: Partners in Crime

Who owns a song: the person who made it or the person who paid for it? Is piracy an organized crime or a class struggle? Is the fine line between plagiarism and inspiration a cop-out, or a whole new way of looking at the fluid nature of authorship, perhaps even a whole new kind of cultural freedom?

Full of wicked irony, great music, and thorny questions about culture, ownership, creativity, and authorship, the documentary Partners in Crime (2011) travels to various parts of India to explore the grey horizons of copyright and culture in the midst of dramatic technological and economic change.

Metalheads who market their own music, folklorists who turn tribal aphorisms into short stories, music archivists who hoard and share everything they can get their hands on, anti-piracy fanatics who think piracy funds terrorism, a smooth-talking DVD street salesman who outlines the efficiency of the illegal market, media moguls and lobbyists: these are the fascinating figures who throng the global bazaar at the heart of Partners in Crime.

Director Paromita Vohra will join moderator Bhaskar Sarkar (Film and Media Studies, UCSB) for a post-screening discussion of Partners in Crime. The film will be presented in English and Hindi with English subtitles.