DIRECTOR: Matt Johnson
PRODUCERS: Fraser Ash, Niv Fichman, Kevin Krikst, Matthew Miller
PRODUCTION CO: XYZ Films, Rhombus Media, Zapruder Films
SCREENPLAY: Matt Johnson, Matthew Miller, based on the book Losing the Signal: The Untold Story Behind the Extraordinary Rise and Spectacular Fall of Blackberry by Jacquie McNish and Sean Silcoff
​PHOTOGRAPHY: Jared Raab
EDITOR: Curt Lobb
MUSIC: Jay McCarrol
WITH: Jay Baruchel (Mike), Glenn Howerton (Jim), Matt Johnson (Doug), Kelly Van der Burg (Jasmine)

FESTIVALS: Berlin

REVIEW

“The genius and hubris of the tech industry collide in this wildly entertaining account of the dramatic rise and fall of the world’s first smartphone.

It was the product that would revolutionise the way we lived. Years before the iPhone, Canadian innovator Mike Lazaridis (played by comic mainstay Jay Baruchel) teamed up with cutthroat entrepreneur Jim Balsillie (a ferocious Glenn Howerton, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia) to bring the world a mobile phone that would also allow users to – you’ll never believe this – send and receive emails. Like a blend of The Social Network and The Office, BlackBerry reimagines the meetings, schemes, pipe dreams and pizza boxes that gave rise to the titular tech sensation…

Mock-documentary specialist Matt Johnson takes us back to the mid-90s and to the beginnings of BlackBerry’s wild ride to cultural ‘CrackBerry’ ubiquity. Loosely based on the 2015 tell-all book Losing the Signal, the film delivers a slyly satirical and frequently uproarious look at the creative chaos of the tech world as the geeks inherit the Earth.”

– Melbourne International Film Festival 2023

“With a good deal of zippy snark à la The Social Network and a sense of deadpan comedy straight from the Succession playbook, BlackBerry is the kind of mid-budget marvel that doesn’t seem to come around often anymore.”

– Steph Green, Indiewire

FILM SOCIETY SCREENINGS

Canterbury     
Monday, 17 February, 7.00pm

​Dunedin   
Wednesday, 19 March, 7.30pm

​Auckland   
Monday, 31 March, 6.15pm

​Hamilton
Monday, 07 April, 6.30pm

​Nelson
Wednesday, 16 April, 6.00pm

Tauranga  Luxe Tauranga
Wednesday, 25 June, 5.45pm

​Bigger Picture Ōamaru
Thursday, 09 October, 7.00pm

​Carterton  
Friday, 31 October, 7.00pm

​Whanganui   
Monday, 10 November, 7.00pm
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