General Magic
Description
A portrait of Silicon Valley’s most important failed startup, General Magic details the rise and fall of the groundbreaking company that envisioned the first smartphone, as well as e-commerce and emojis, years before any of them became ubiquitous. Told through the voices of several members of the team of gifted (and still dominant) engineers, programmers, and marketers, General Magic brings you into the heart of the story of a company that changed the world before the world was ready.
“The documentary features copious amounts of fascinating behind-the-scenes footage illustrating the youthful energy and passion fueling the enterprise. Contemporary interviews with many of the principal figures provide further insight as to what they were feeling at the time and how the years have affected their perspective. The film also includes many fascinating digressions, such as a segment devoted to a proposal by one of the developers to create a flea-market type of website. The higher-ups at General Magic thought the idea was absurd and turned it down. It eventually became eBay.” —Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter
Sarah Kerruish lived in Silicon Valley for 15 years where, as part of the documentary crew filming the team at General Magic, she worked with some of the great inventors of our age. Her films have been distributed worldwide and won many awards, including a Peabody and an Emmy nomination. In 2017, she made a short film about the last few days of the tech team at the White House under President Obama.
Matt Maude is an award-winning director, writer, and producer. After starring in the UK ITV soap Crossroads during his teenage years, Matt moved to working behind the camera, directing and producing advertisements, music videos, and narrative shorts. General Magic is his first documentary feature film.
Film Details
Language English
Year 2018
Runtime 93
Country USA
Director Sarah Kerruish, Matt Maude
Producer Sarah Kerruish, Matt Maude
Editor Claire Ferguson, Anna Mellor
Cinematographer Matt Maude, Jay Maude
Music Benji Merrison
Print Source Cinetic