Fresh from its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival comes COPYRIGHT CRIMINALS, a new documentary about hip-hop and sampling.

Presented by REELTIME, Evanston's film and discussion series (www.reeltimeevanston.org)

Wed, Oct. 7, 2009 – 7:30 PM, ADMISSION FREE
Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University

Can you own a sound? It depends who you ask. For more than thirty years, innovative hip-hop performers – from Public Enemy to De La Soul – have been re-using portions of previously recorded music in new and otherwise original compositions. But when record company lawyers got involved everything changed. What was once referred to as “borrowed melody” became a “copyright infringement.”

COPYRIGHT CRIMINALS (2009) by Benjamin Franzen and Kembrew McLeod traces the rise of hip-hop form the urban streets of New York to its current status as a multibillion-dollar industry.Featuring many of hip-hop’s founding figures, this documentary examines artistic expression, copyright law and, of course, money.

• Location: EVANSTON
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