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Time Bomb Y2K

Directors

Brian Becker, Marley McDonald

Executive Producers

Penny Lane, Gabriel Sedgwick, For HBO: Tina Nguyen, Nancy Abraham, Lisa Heller

Producers

Brian Becker

Editors

Marley McDonald, Maya Mumma

Cinematographers

As the year 2000 approached, rumblings started to spread outside of the world of computer engineers and into the mainstream consciousness about a ubiquitous error in computer code that would cause computers to reset during the transition from “1999” to “2000,” causing the world’s computerized systems to grind to a halt. This fully archival feature (no interviews, verité, etc.) documents the countdown to Y2K against the backdrop of the mass hysteria that infiltrated everything from politics to pop culture. Doomsday prepper communities started to proliferate and businesses popped up with products, books, and any way to make a quick buck off the looming disaster. Time Bomb Y2K is a wild ride through the final days of the ’90s and a compelling portrait of a turning point in the digital revolution. By examining this hingepoint between millennia, the film interrogates our ever-changing relationship to technology and each other.

TimeBomb_M.McDonald

Marley McDonald

Co-Director, Time Bomb Y2K

Marley McDonald is a filmmaker, animator, and painter living in Queens, New York. In 2021, she was chosen as a Points North Fellow and worked as an additional editor on Penny Lane’s film Listening to Kenny G. Her associate editor work includes Spaceship Earth, and the Golden Lion-winning and Oscar-nominated documentary, All the Beauty and the Bloodshed. She most recently directed and edited her debut feature, Time Bomb Y2K (co-directed with Brian Becker) for HBO.

TimeBomb_B.Becker

Brian Becker

Co-Director, Time Bomb Y2K

Brian Becker is a New York-based filmmaker who most recently directed and produced his debut feature Time Bomb Y2K (co-directed with Marley McDonald). The film premiered at True/False Film Festival in March 2023 and will air on HBO in December 2023. He served as an archival producer on Free Chol Soo Lee, MLK/FBI, and Spaceship Earth, and as a co-producer on Bobby Kennedy for President. Brian is a 2022 Doc NYC 40 Under 40 recipient, Impact Partners Producing Fellow, Points North Fellow, and a FOCAL Jane Mercer Researcher of the Year award nominee. Before turning to production, he worked as a mosquito ecologist.