Emma P., journalist

Have you ever wondered about how the famous painting of the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre Museum in Paris?  Have you ever wanted to know more about your favorite chef? How he – or she – got started in the industry or how to recreate one of the iconic recipes? Maybe you like sports and you want to know more about Deflategate. If you respond yes to any of these questions, we’re going to get along swimmingly since the answers to these questions, and so many more, can be found in documentaries, one of my favorite movie/TV genres.

One of my favorite new documentary series is Web of Make Believe: Death, Lies and the Internet. The six episode docu-series was released on Netflix on June 15th, 2021. Executive producer Brian Knappenberger takes on misinformation and manipulation of truth due to fraudulent use of the internet. This series is rich with distinctive personalities and surprising developments; reality is warped when the ordinary American household collides with a chaotic web of misinformation. This series ranges in topics from the first reports of mass swattings that lead to the death of an innocent Andrew Finch, to the unsolved murder of a young college boy, to a man jailed for a crime based on the illegal recording by the National Security Agency. Yes, the NSA!     

Web of Make Believe is the latest tech-based documentary series from acclaimed filmmaker Knappenberger, who is credited with other excellent docs about the web: We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists, The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz, and Nobody Speak: Trials of the Free Press. 

I recommend this series for several reasons: it’s timely, it’s gripping, and it’s highly informative. In fact, I recommend you watch it with your family: you’ll definitely have something to talk about together…instead of rushing back to the internet.