Onchain minting of the trailer for the documentary Vitalik: An Ethereum Story went live on Tuesday, allowing crypto users to help fund the decentralized distribution release of the film across theaters across the globe and on streaming platforms.

Vitalik: An Ethereum Story follows the ups and downs of the blockchain network over the last three years through its co-founder’s eyes, including one of the most difficult software upgrades in history: The Merge, which changed the network’s consensus mechanism from proof-of-work to proof-of stake.

The documentary on Buterin is the focal point of the Ethereum Stories series, which are stories about key developments within the crypto space such as the rollout of GitcoinDAO and ConstitutionDAO’s pursuit of acquiring a historical document, the US Constitution.

The trailer’s launch comes on the same day that spot ether exchange funds began trading for the first time. “What I hope is that this is the perfect time to be telling stories that are human in the space, because there’s this big, global spotlight on Ethereum,” the film’s director Zach Ingrasci told Unchained. 

The world premiere for the movie is scheduled for Sept. 18. 

“What’s so cool is with the mint of this trailer, we can actually power the distribution of this film and series,” Ingrasci said. “And that’s so unique to the crypto space and to this film, and so we’re really excited to reimagine what documentary distribution looks like.”

Ingrasci said there’s little room for independent films that don’t fit the typical framework like true crime or celebrity categories. “I hope more people are able to use this model for distribution so that we get more of these stories out there,” he said.

Substantial Budget 

The first day of the trailer’s mint also comes roughly  three years after the film team raised over 1,035.96 ETH worth roughly $3.6 million at current market prices via a a pplpleasr NFT crowdfund. More than 660 wallet addresses contributed, including Andrew Kang who has the ENS silentgarden.eth, Mariano Conti who goes by @nanexcool on X, and Andrei Brasoveanu who has the screen name @algovc. 

Responsible for 15% of the total crowdfund, these individuals and their three wallet addresses are among the top five backers of the documentary, contributing almost 175 ETH, according to the project’s crowdfunding website. 

“A lot of times as independent documentary filmmakers, we’re making films on a tiny budget and that would have been a serious challenge, but because of the community support, we were able to really be in the room for these magical moments,” Ingrasci said.