The internet can belong to all of us.
Code for the People is a new documentary short about the fight for the open web — who built it, who’s trying to close it, and what you can do about it.
A free internet was traded for a handful of walled gardens.
The open web is arguably the world’s most vital invisible utility — and it’s under siege. A small number of digital landlords now use algorithms to shape what we see, while closed AI systems threaten to change the way we connect with each other entirely.
We’re at a breaking point: either the gatekeepers keep consolidating power, or we reclaim the open-source spirit that built the web in the first place. More than 40% of the internet already runs on open-source WordPress — proof that the open web isn’t a nostalgic idea, it’s infrastructure millions of people depend on right now.
- FormatDocumentary Short
- Runtime~20 minutes
- DirectorBao Nguyen
- Produced byKenneth Nguyen
- Edited bySue Ding, Sarah Garrahan
- Music byGene Back
- ReleasedSummer 2026
Storytelling from the director of Be Water and The Greatest Night in Pop.
Bao Nguyen built his reputation on films that find the human story inside something much bigger — Sundance-premiered Be Water, Netflix’s The Greatest Night in Pop, and BTS: The Return. For Code for the People, he set out to make an emotional, human way into a subject that can otherwise feel like an insider conversation about software.
The film centers on WordPress co-founder and Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg’s own path into technology, and widens out to voices from across the tech world — including Linus Torvalds and Jensen Huang — alongside builders, maintainers, and everyday people who make the open web work.
The full film — free, no login, no catch.
Five ways to get involved, starting today.
Move one thing
Pick one piece of your digital life and bring it to an open platform — a newsletter, a portfolio, a blog. One move is enough to start.
Own your home on the internet
Register a domain. Publish something. Stop renting space on someone else’s platform and own your corner of the web.
Contribute something back
Code, documentation, translation, testing, or a donation — if you use open-source tools, water the garden.
Back organizations that defend open source
Mozilla, the Internet Archive, the EFF, Creative Commons, the WordPress Foundation — these are the institutions holding the open web together.
Connect with people who share your passion
Run a screening. Assign the film. Write about it. The movement grows every time the conversation does.
Early word on the film.
Nguyen wanted the film to land as an emotional, human way into technology — not a lecture, but a story about the first spark of curiosity that pulls people toward building things.
Built like an actual film rather than a corporate video wearing a documentary costume, with Matt Mullenweg’s own story running through it as the emotional throughline.
Catch it at the Helper Arts, Music & Film Festival
Screening with Automattic’s blessing as part of the 2026 Helper Arts, Music & Film Festival in Historic Helper, Utah. One screening only — arrive early.