- Welcome to Independent Lens.
I'm Pete Schwaba,
host of PBS Wisconsin's Director's Cut.
Tonight, we bring you the documentary Minted,
which explores the marriage of art and technology.
More specifically, the world of NFTs.
If you're not entirely sure what an NFT is, join the club.
It stands for non-fungible token
and it is utilized similar to bitcoin,
which I also don't understand completely,
despite many Google inquiries.
Minted explores the world of this digital art market,
and how artists and collectors have made and lost fortunes
in this $40 billion industry.
The first non-fungible token, called Quantum,
was created in 2014, and with its creation,
this new, digitally-driven art form
that capitalizes on technology was born.
This genre within the art community saw lots of trading
and healthy sales and was booming until a crash in 2022.
In some cases,
the value of the non-fungible tokens fell almost 100%.
Minted explores the entire existence of NFTs,
from the inception to its meteoric rise, to the crash,
and any potential long-term viability it may have.
The documentary follows the stories
of those who have succeeded and those who have failed,
and does a deep dive into how it has affected artists
who have embraced this techno art form
from all over the world, despite the risks.
Minted is directed by Nicholas Bruckman.
Bruckman is an accomplished, award-winning filmmaker
whose film Not Going Quietly won the audience award
at SXSW in 2021, as well as a slew of other awards.
The filmmaker also produced Valley of the Saints ,
a narrative feature that won the audience award
at Sundance in 2012.
Bruckman studied digital art in college
and says he found the story for Minted
when he discovered one of his main characters,
a American artist known as Beeple.
Beeple sold his digital collection to Christie's
for $69 million, making him the third highest-selling artist
of all time.
Bruckman says he was in the right place at the right time,
a stroke of luck allowing him to witness
the height of popularity for the NFT craze.
Whether you're tempted right now to rush out
and empty your pockets to purchase nonfungible tokens,
or if after listening to me,
you are even more confused about NFTs,
you should sit back and watch this film.
Nicolas Bruckman is an expert storyteller
and thoroughly explains and simplifies a difficult topic.
Minted starts now on PBS Wisconsin,
your home for independent film.