SXSW Movie Review: ‘The Boy Who Sold The World’

Review by James Lindorf

Director Adam Barton, producers Jack Turner and Chris Smith partnered with Resonant Pictures on the 2020 SXSW Official Selection The Boy Who Sold The World. Ben Pasternak helped create a viral game app while in still middle school. At the age of 15 he had secured funding from a group of venture capitalists to bring his new idea to life. In order to make his dream of toppling eBay a reality he just had to convince his parents to let him move to NYC alone from Australia. Not content with just taking down the world’s favorite resale site, Ben also plans to create the next great social interaction app. Moving to a new business world and country would be a lot for anyone let alone a solitary teenager. At the age of 19 on the brink of financial and psychological collapse Ben reimagines his career with an unexpected purpose.

The Boy Who Sold The World is one part inspirational tech documentary and one part coming of age tale. Ben harnesses his abilities and puts his elders on edge by approaching technology and business with the bravado and viewpoint of youth. Ben is shown as passionate and confident almost without exception. There are the expected frustrations that come with trying to change the world

A master at growth hacking with a strong eye for design, Ben was committed to making the world’s next big social app. But after running out of money, and confronting controversies that pushed him to the edge of sanity, Ben rebooted his career at 19, finding a new and. The Boy Who Sold The World is a modern coming-of-age story that illuminates the inner workings of the tech industry from a rare and highly personal lens.

The Boy Who Sold the World is directed by, produced by. Executive Producers are Sam Bathrick, Alex Cullen, Adam Barton. Editor is Sam Mink. Cinematographer is Adam Barton. is a brooklyn-based production company specializing in documentary and commercial content. Resonant has two films in the 2020 SXSW lineup: The Boy Who Sold The World (Documentary, in Competition) and The Surrogate (Narrative, Visions), a co-production with Tandem Pictures.