I have screened at MoMA Doc Fortnight, Lincoln Center’s Art of The Real, Sheffield Doc/Fest, Visions du Réel and others. I have worked as a non-fiction cinematographer internationally, including the US, Brazil, China, the South Pacific, Europe and Central Africa, and have contributed to Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning documentaries. I work as an editor and sound designer on feature films, shorts and installations.
In Production
I’m currently developing two feature film projects: one is a docu-fiction about crypto mining, the other is a narrative about psychoactive saffron.
Supply Chain
A FILM BY ALEX TYSON
SUPPLY CHAIN is a genre-bending film that explores the culture and science of cryptocurrency mining. Weaving together uncanny footage and experimental animation, the film traverses continents and decades to examine the legacy of the Bitcoin white paper, published anonymously in 2008. This unassuming document unleashed a seismic shift, transforming coin mining from a hobby on laptops into a multi-billion dollar computing industry locked in a high-stakes race for survival against insatiable power demands.
WATCH THE PROOF OF CONCEPT VIDEO
The film presents an in-depth look at the world of Bitcoin mining, tracing a single Antminer S9 computer from its mineral origins in Central Africa to its unlikely final destination in Texarkana, USA in the year 2141. We see a future in which digital mining has shifted nation states, energy grids and culture at large.
The viewer is guided by Chippy, a mischievous AI assistant trained on the opinions of both Bitcoin critics and investors. Chippy playfully interrupts and trolls what initially seems like a boring science documentary about infrastructure.
Filmmaking Process
Re-defining science-driven filmmaking
The film utilizes a hybrid format, combining verité footage, scientific imagery, and animation. Interviews are sparse, we see events, archival supercuts. We are on a journey. Chippy is our emissary. He guides the viewer, making the complex technical processes behind crypto understandable and entertaining to a wide audience. But as viewers will find out, Chippy is an unreliable narrator. The film's animation is led by Frank Suarez of Bunko Studios, known for his work on Mr. DNA in Jurassic Park (1993).A Global Story with a Local Focus
Spanning continents from the heart of Africa to rural Texas, Supply Chain presents a global portrait of Bitcoin’s physical footprint and cultural influence. The film examines the intricate relationship between geography, politics, and the mining industry, portraying Bitcoin not merely as a digital asset but as a force actively shaping energy grids, land development, resource consumption and labor. By weaving local, human stories into this broader narrative, the film challenges viewers to understand cryptocurrency as a material and chemical process.Mixing fact and speculative fiction
With its final chapter set in Texarkana– a fictional special economic zone in the year 2141– the film dares to envision a world shaped by invisible computational processes. Set against a backdrop of infrastructural sprawl and severe weather, the audience will eavesdrop on a pivotal negotiation between a digital mining CEO and the U.S. State Department leading up to the mining of the final Bitcoin in existence. This mixture of fact and fiction positions the film as an experiment in storytelling, fusing speculative science fiction with documentary rigor.
Partners
Distribution
Supply Chain will use a multi-pronged release strategy, including token-gated online premiere for crypto-natives, a targeted grassroots theatrical run and institutional library licensing. DIS.art currently has 1,500 individual subscribers and 25 institutional subscribers, including institutions like UPenn, MIT, NYU, Princeton, Goldsmiths, RISD, The New School. We will create an innovative release strategy that isn’t predicated on the traditional distribution pipeline of the documentary industry.
Audience
The film is designed to reach a broad spectrum of viewers, from Bitcoin enthusiasts to critics, environmental advocates, and those unfamiliar with the crypto altogether. Its art-driven, sensory approach avoids taking sides or formulating a singular politic. It is politically neutral, like cryptocurrency itself.
A FILM BY ALEX TYSON
Alex Tyson is filmmaker and artist based in Los Angeles, California, originally from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He has screened at MoMA Doc Fortnight, Lincoln Center’s Art of The Real, Sheffield Doc/Fest, Visions du Réel and others. His work as a non-fiction cinematographer has brought him to the US, Brazil, China, the South Pacific, Europe and Central Africa. He has contributed to Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning documentaries which are distributed widely. He primarily works as an in-demand director, editor and sound designer on feature films, shorts and installations.
PRODUCTION SUPPORT
Maya E. Rudolph, Saleem Ali
Pierce Myers, Ken Shirriff, Laban Owori, Steven Arrowsmith,
John McMaster, DS Chun,
Estelle Levin-Nally, Frank Suarez, Benjamin Turner