NFT:WTF? | The Rise and Fall of NFTs

NFT:WTF? is a feature-length documentary that examines the disruptive force of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) in the contemporary art scene. The ground-breaking documentary marks one of the first comprehensive explorations of the history of NFTs and provides unparalleled insight into the turbulent NFT market through the eyes of some of its key players.
With unprecedented access to leading artists in the NFT zeitgeist, including Damien Hirst and Beeple, as well as interviews with founders of Art Blocks and The Bored Ape Yacht Club, celebrity collectors, and early adopters like Snoop Dogg. The film explores profound questions about the nature of art, ownership, and community in the digital age.
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00:00:00 Introduction
00:03:05 Damien Hirst
00:05:43 The First NFT
00:08:59 Crypto Kitties
00:12:53 What is an NFT?
00:15:48 NBA Top Shots
00:16:33 Crypto Punks
00:19:51 Art Blocks & Generative Art
00:22:34 The Launch of The Currency
00:29:06 NFT NYC & Bitcoin
00:32:44 Beeple
00:37:34 Discord
00:42:51 Mad Dog Jones
00:45:12 NFTs in Music
00:49:34 What's the Value of an NFT?
00:52:08 The $69M NFT
01:03:45 The Bored Ape Yacht Club
01:15:06 Ukraine
01:19:51 The Currency Burn Event
01:27:20 Epilogue
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Produced and Directed by David Shulman
Produced by Josh Berger
Executive Producer: Zad Rogers, Executive Producers: Lydia Conway & Ben Weston
© BPHL Film Production 1 Limited, 2023
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#HENItalks #NFT #digitalart #documentary #crypto #bitcoin #ethereum

[@rebeccarosenft]

Proud to have my art in this film at @2:23 - this documentary is incredibly well done. Bravo and thank you!

[@art_means_artificial]

rubbish work

[@RustToStardust]

WoW! So good, thank you for making this and helping me understand this whole world of NFT's more, fascinating, brilliant stuff. I still would have gone for the physical piece of art.

[@J-EM-E]

Just finished watching, what a great doc!! Recognized a few people in the film from various community events too. Cheers 👏 ❤

[@josephwillis3345]

Me? 🤣

[@rflorian86]

All you really learn at the end of art school is business.

[@piterisparkeris4770]

Beeple's basically just showing off. We'll see who's who in the end, just give it time. He sold his so-so artwork as an "NFT" for a crazy $69 million and suddenly he's supposedly one of the richest artists ever. But if someone's using art to clean their dirty money, it doesn't make the art any better. It's just a paid-for hype, a fake boost in value. Not everything can be measured in dollars. If Beeple's art was really so great, why didn't anyone care before the whole NFT craze? Why wasn't anyone dropping real cash on it? His art isn't anything special, and most legit art critics would agree. Beeple even compared himself to Banksy and Andy Warhol, which is pretty bold. Remember not long ago when this guy Thierry Guetta, aka Mr. Brainwash, became a big deal overnight? He had help from other paid artists and didn't actually create the stuff himself. But after a few years, no one talks about him anymore. He was friends with graffiti big shots like Banksy and Shepard Fairey, who helped him get some attention.

[@Jewclaw]

Interesting 🤔 idk much about any of the artwork or artist but that’s something to chew on over the doc

[@erinptah]

Beeple "sold" his pricey NFT to his own business partner. They were both investors in a crypto platform whose token went up in price after the "sale" hype, and both of them had enough tokens to make more than $69 million back, by selling while hype-driven marks wanted to buy. If that wasn't in the doc, I'm disappointed in their research abilities!

[@damianb2374]

@@erinptah this selfish mindset seems to be everywhere in this ethos. Let's face it: alt right/crypto bros aren't really concerned with the weekly shopping or paying the electricity bills are they.

[@KristofskiKabuki]

The only reason people found it so difficult to define NFTs is cos none of them want to admit that it's just like having a certificate of ownership for a piece of art without having the art itself. It's impossible to properly explain them without revealing them as the scam they are. But, as with all pyramid schemes, the people who've bought into them need to recruit in order for their investment to not disappear

[@kenofken9458]

It's a pure pyramid scam. So is cryptocurrency, but NFTs took it to the ultimate conclusion.

[@KristofskiKabuki]

@@kenofken9458 at least with crypto you can exchange it for actual currency, the only reason to buy an NFT is cos you think you’ll be able to sell it to someone else for more than you paid. If someone buys them for the perks they could just pay for membership to a club.

[@user-ti4uf7rv9m]

chef eager ability sing piece ill hood crumble way panther pony artefact boring squirrel seed display next spray urge small video orchard sad arrow

[@KristofskiKabuki]

@@user-ti4uf7rv9m Is this spam or some kind of avant-garde poetry?

[@jamesrobertson2361]

I am retired boomer who has always made art for myself and never gotten involved with selling it. But I have purchased some pieces. The pieces I have purchased have stories that intrest me and reinforce what I have learned through creating art. NFTs are just to removed for my intrest. But they do have some interesting stories.

[@Epok317]

How are you gonna make an NFT documentary with rise and fall in the title and not mention the scams, the greed, the volatility, or the allegations of Bored Apes and their Nazi affinities? This was an hour and a half long commercial for a dying movement.

[@newhavencon-py5yy]

Totally agree. This entire thing just seemed like a commercial for NFTs basically. No honesty here.

[@user-po9xr5nm8k]

I can't watch this because it reminds me of how much USD I faded...

[@francklenormand2680]

"Folding Ideas" and "munecat" have made documentaries about NFT which are more critical of the movement as a whole. This documentary seems to only shows examples of nft usage but never analyze it or check the bigger picture...

[@radiansaphir]

So happy to see this comment. How can they say this is the "one of the first" documentaries exploring the subject in-depth when they're years late and so surface-level? On the positive side, I really wonder if either Folding Ideas or munecat have seen this and will do some sort of rebuttal/breakdown.

[@Qjb1984]

September Mourning, Emily Lazar is the best!

[@playgamescarlos]

Loved September Mourning! 🤘

[@My_Weekend_Adventures]

AMAZING thanks for making this.

[@ffffff52]

1:10:03 I'll forever find that line of thought funny, of all the craze and abusrd ideas from peak NFT-fad craze to think videogame developers were going to be willing to code/model every single NFT in existence into their games was so absurd it defied comprehension... which was an obvious sign of the proponents lack of understatement of both feasibility and the market.

[@playgamescarlos]

Hi! I didn't think the documentary would be on KZbin (I must've missed or something...I don't know.), so Yay! I enjoyed watching the documentary today & this amazing! Great job to the whole crew for making The Rise and Fall of NTFs documentary film. Happy to see lots of artists enjoy what they Love to do. P.S. I'm super happy to see Emily Lazar of September Mourning being part of this (It was also great to meet & greet with September Mourning last week at The House Of Blues Anaheim. They ROCK!). Go happy Emily! ^___^

[@AKcap530]

Amazing video, what a fun ride

[@marcofrey7108]

This was really insightful, thought provoking and perfectly executed. I've been doing research for the potential of NFTs on music, and I was a bit concerned because after the boom of media attention around 2022, there have been precious few articles/resources. I was wondering what's going on, and does this still have potential? I wouldn't say I"m any closer to knowing?! But I know for sure the underlying tech isn't going away; I just hope there really is enough demand, not for musicians to get rich but merely to connect with their fans in more ways, place more value back on the music/track itself, and monetize more directly.

[@RobertLendvai]

An excellent documentary. Well done.

[@FilmPunk]

14:45 It's me. Horay!

[@belshah]

If you're only making it for money, then it's not art

[@milanvujcich]

Facts. NFTs arent art in the first place

[@ediwow929]

pixelated photo and they called it an art.. its like an artist crafted his masterpiece with his eyes closed.

[@Paul-lf1bq]

Anyone know the song at 5:42

[@satsmoon]

Excellent. Congrats All!

[@HENITalks]

Thank you very much!

[@CHUCKBALLERSTIMEPRICEDNFT2024]

I hope mine is seen as a new direction in art by time.👺

[@ArtAsAConsequence]

there's a glitch at 59-60 mins.

[@DigitalWorldFinance]

thanks for sharing

[@Bonora11]

Great documentary

[@ura9390]

superb

[@CrystalballParlay]

The only nft that will have value is a physical item that has real value like artwork baseball cards etc. it’s just a form of authenticity based on blockchain technology

[@tenersuno]

🔥🔥🔥

[@TheVerluz]

thers a glitch at minute 59.48

[@HENITalks]

Thanks for flagging! It's fixed and should be updated within 24 hours.

[@lassataest5604]

A documentary on the sheer stupidity and brilliance of greed in humans.

[@deejannemeiurffnicht1791]

NFT's? oesn't anyone get taught the Hans Christian Andersen story The King's New Clothes at school anymore? In this case, or, at least in many cases,these days, the King's 'new clothes'' are NFT's.

[@MrEdcast1]

The film was fine but why would you name this "The Rise and Fall of NFTs" when it was completely about the rise? The fall was barely mentioned. Its like the person who named it never saw the film.

[@jamesalechardy]

They don’t care~ estimated $50million extracted by the currency project- last month trading the NFTs made $3,750 in royalty payments alone. This was a very long and boring advert

[@c0unt_WAVnstein]

The people who pay money for NFT's and the people profiteering from them have one thing in common. Neither should be allowed out.

[@Bunnylovecrypto]

Where’s the fall? I am sleepy 😪

[@planetb4338]

its too early to make a documentary about it ;)

[@madsli]

Doesn't really point out any of the flaws of NFTs. Besides, an NFT is not the art.

[@thegreatoutdoorsbakersfield]

Ive lost all my money to meme coins. 2023-2024 i only have a Huge portfolio of nfts that are worth nothing. Im only buying shib for now. But i dont give a shit cause i'm a dejan. 🎉😊

[@angel21047]

I read as, I lost money in that scam, now I'm investing in this scam instead.

[@JanneWolterbeek]

It’s a lot of madness and idiocy, centered around one holy concept: money. I’ve seen little to no art here, nor have I seen any thorough criticism. This is not a documentary but a self-congratulatory display of greed and little substance.

[@mohba01]

The block chain was not invented by satoshi .. what sort of crap research did you do to even make this this documentary 🤔

[@kevinmccoy6618]

I was taken a bit out of context on that line. We had been talking about Stornetta and Haber and their work at Bell Labs before that