A film about the invisible operating system of the modern world. From an anarchist squat in Berlin, to a futuristic landscape in Taiwan, to a remote village in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest, we encounter a series of figures from the internet decentralization movement. These radicals are confronting internet infrastructure and the unexpected ways it exerts pressure on their way of life. A journey through infrastructure, power, and history with the dissidents trying to hardwire a new path forward.

The internet has become an invisible force driving nearly every aspect of our lives, yet we rarely consider how profoundly this nebulous entity has transformed humanity. InThe End of the Internet, Toronto director Dylan Reibling investigates the origins of the web and the unintended consequences reshaping our world today.

The film examines who controls the internet’s levers of power and influence, revealing how diverse factions are fighting to restore it as a principled tool for universal access and equal participation. Following a global cast of characters—from Hong Kong dissidents affected by government censorship, to Indigenous Brazilians using programs to protect data sovereignty, to Catalans who built community-driven networks promoting free speech, to a Berlin commune shaping the internet around mutual aid, to tech companies betting on utopian decentralized visions—Reibling’s documentary captures the deeply human side of our most transformative technology. 

The film asks whether we can reclaim the internet’s founding promise of connection and liberation. Join us for the Canadian premiere ofThe End of the Internet, following its world premiere at CPH DOX. -PLANET IN FOCUS