this documentary is INCREDIBLE - i can’t recommend it enough. billy mcfarland reeks of privilege and i was completely appalled and blown away by his blasé attitude to literally committing several counts of white collar crime - living in the lap of luxury in a penthouse suite after being released on $300,000 bail? after scamming bahamians out of $250,000 worth of unpaid manual labour? after setting up a brand new scam targeting victims who’ve already lost thousands of dollars to this catastrophe? after endangering lives through both the lack of adequate shelter and water for guests and the awful working conditions for the employees? and laughing and joking all the way through it like destroying financial livelihoods is nothing. this documentary has got me so riled up and disgusted which is a sign of a very well-made doc!!! my one criticism would be that i’d have much preferred a criminological critique at the end rather than the spiel about social media being a ~facade~ which we all already know. i think it would’ve been awesome to have instead looked at stats for how many people get away with this sort of thing, for how he got 6 years (6 years!) when some people are put away for triple that for dealing freaking marijuana, if the bahamians ever got that money, etc. - cause people love to say that white collar crimes are victimless crimes but somebody, somewhere is working for nothing. overall a fantastic doc providing many genuine wtf moments but lacking a commentary on race/class/wealth and privilege

Between downloads and streaming services, I have way too many shows and movies lined up to watch. This documentary on the Fyre Festival has been waiting for me for a long time. So today I figured the reason I haven’t watched it might point to the possibility I could start watching it, not like it, and get it off my waiting list.

But, as you might guess, I ended up watching the entire film. It won’t get any hyperbole from me for being the best of this or totally awesome at that, but it is entertaining and informative, if only as yet another warning that if something seems too good to be true, it probably is too good to be true.

It describes how wealthy or moderately well off customers were duped and ripped off by an affable and persuasive entrepreneur named Billy McIntire who built a huge house of cards music festival through deceit and fraud and gullibility.

It is almost difficult to feel sorry for some of those well-off victims. They will live to spend again. The ones I feel bad about are the regular people, especially on the island where it was to be held, who performed work for the Festival and were never paid, a common trick used by wealthy, lying, immoral “lawyered-up” businessmen. What is almost as bad as the crime itself is the subsequent total lack of remorse as a Billy lived the high life and moved on to his next scam. Perhaps Billy’s conviction will at least prevent him from running for office.

Anyway, this film won’t change your life, but it is instructive in small ways and entertaining.