Brian Knappenberger

Brian Knappenberger in 2012

Brian Knappenberger is an American[1] documentary filmmaker, known for The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz, We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists, and Turning Point: 9/11 and the War on Terror and his work on Bloomberg Game Changers.

The documentary film We Are Legion (2012) was written and directed by Knappenberger. It is about the workings and beliefs of the self-described hacktivist collective Anonymous.[2]

In June 2014, The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz was released. The film is about the life of internet activist Aaron Swartz.[3] The film was on the short list for the 2015 Academy Award for best documentary feature.[4]

Nobody Speak: Trials of the Free Press was released on Netflix in June 2017, after debuting at the Sundance Film Festival. It follows professional wrestler Hulk Hogan's lawsuit against Gawker Media, and the takeover of the Las Vegas Review-Journal by casino owner Sheldon Adelson.[5]

In 2020, Knappenberger directed true crime documentary The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez, a television series about the 2013 Murder of Gabriel Fernandez, an eight-year-old boy from Palmdale, California.[6]

Knappenberger has directed and executive produced numerous other documentaries for the Discovery Channel, Bloomberg, and PBS, including PBS' Ice Warriors: USA Sled Hockey. He owns and operates Luminant Media, a Los Angeles–based production and post-production company.[7]

In 2024, Knappenberger directed the documentary Turning Point: The Bomb And The Cold War on Netflix, a series about the lead up to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, as well as the Cold War.[8]

  1. ^ Beston, Sarah. "'The Internet's Own Boy' Director Talks About the Tragic Fate of Programming Prodigy Aaron Swartz". TakePart. Archived from the original on 8 December 2014. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
  2. ^ "About the film". We Are Legion. Archived from the original on 15 July 2014. Retrieved 30 June 2014.
  3. ^ "The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz". Internet Archive. 27 June 2014. Retrieved 30 June 2014.
  4. ^ "15 DOCUMENTARY FEATURES ADVANCE IN 2014 OSCAR RACE". Oscars. December 2014. Archived from the original on 6 December 2014. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
  5. ^ "Gawker, Hulk Hogan, and the fight for a free press – ThinkProgress". ThinkProgress. 2017-06-26. Archived from the original on 2017-08-16. Retrieved 2017-07-14.
  6. ^ "Netflix's 'The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez' as it unfolded: Read our coverage". Los Angeles Times. 26 February 2020. Archived from the original on 2020-09-06. Retrieved 2020-09-07.
  7. ^ "Our Team – Luminant". Archived from the original on 2024-02-21. Retrieved 2024-05-22.
  8. ^ "Turning Point: The Bomb and the Cold War — new Netflix documentary takes the baton from Oppenheimer". www.ft.com. Archived from the original on 2024-04-07. Retrieved 2024-04-08.