General Magic

UK/USA, Feature Documentary, 2018, 93 min

...the biggest kick is giggling at the key players’ startlingly accurate predictions of the kind of world we’re now living in. Village Voice

Everything that touches our daily lives, like social media, e-commerce and even emojis, had its original vision at General Magic, the most spectacularly successful business failure in history. In 1994, the company invented and produced the world's first smart phone, which worked fine. But there was little demand, mainly because this was before the Internet, 3G and Google: the world wasn’t ready to hold the world in its hands. General Magic failed big and messy, but its brilliant young engineers fanned out and literally changed the world├â┬ó├óΓÇÜ┬¼├óΓé¼┬¥they invented the iPad, the iPhone and the Android. And the company, remarkably, caught its rocketing rise and dismal fall all on video. This film is a tale of how great vision and epic failure can change the world.

Directed by Sarah Kerruish, Matt Maude

Colorado Premiere