Fyre Fraud

A luxury music festival was promised in the Bahamas, sold through social media influencers, and ticket holders arrived to disaster relief tents and cheese sandwiches. The documentary does not just recount it; it puts the internet culture that made it possible on the table. Jenner Furst and Julia Willoughby Nason directed. Its exclusive is an eight-hour interview with founder Billy McFarland. The price of that exclusive caused an argument: the production admitted paying him. Furst denied the widely reported figure of 250,000 dollars and said the sum was lower. The release date was not a coincidence. Netflix was set to put out its own film on the same events on 18 January 2019; Hulu dropped this on 14 January without warning, four days ahead of its rival. Both documentaries carry an ethical problem: Netflix's was co-produced with the agency that marketed the festival, Hulu's paid the con man. Who it is for: viewers drawn to fraud stories and the mechanics of internet fame. Who it is not for: anyone wanting one clean narrative; this is sardonic and scattered.