"Strictly Not for Sale”: Cultural Implications of Unlawful File Sharing and Film Consumption

It is well known that movie piracy has changed film consumption and reception in the recent years. Of course, the different practices of distributing and providing free access to internet pirated movies involve significant economical and legal issues, which are largely debated at present. However, while taking into account these economical and legal implications, my paper aims at focusing on the cultural impact of movie piracy on film reception – particularly in the Italian context – and investigating the relationships between different topics such as: - Institutional campaigns against movie piracy: rhetorical strategies, distortions, misapprehensions; - Alterations to the policies of film distribution and personalization of movie consumption; - Internet piracy as a way to assess the cultural impact of a film; - The role of communities; - Movie piracy and multiple versions; - Beyond movie piracy: free business models, sharing economies and hybrid economies.