‘Musk’ Director Alex Gibney Calls Midterm Blue Wave “Magnificent” But Warns “Hard Work Has Just Begun”

“It’s a glorious moment now, just a week after the elections in that magnificent blue wave. But, honestly, the hard work for us has just begun,” said Musk director Alex Gibney on opening day of the DOC NYC festival.

“The money behind MAGA has not gone away. As filmmakers, we face a world in which Elon Musk and the tech bros are trying to define and control. They’ve stolen our data and sold it back to us as algorithms we’re supposed to obey. You want to make money, we’re told, don’t step out of line; don’t be adventurous; don’t be provocative, or the algorithms will punish you,” he told a big crowd at the annual Visionaries Tribute luncheon at Gotham Hall in midtown Manhattan where the Oscar-winner received a Lifetime Achievement Award.

“We can and should say, f-k the algorithms. But, in their place, we need to work together to create a new ecosystem that allows us to protect individual expression and free speech, even as we find a way to deliver and promote our films to the audiences who want to see them,” he said, his remarks punctuated by cheers and applause from the audience.

Musk premiered at the Venice Film Festival and Bleecker Street released it in theaters Oct. 9. The four hour documentary critically examines the life, business empire and political influence of Tesla chief and SpaceX founder Elon Musk, the wealthiest person on the planet.

Gibney’s Sundance-premiering Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie, written and narrated by Salman Rushdi, came out in September, based on Rushdie’s 2024 memoir. Gibney saluted The Satanic Verses author and his wife, Rachel Eliza Griffiths, who served as a cinematographer and producer on the film, who were both in the audience.

“I also want to thank everyone in this room for the work they’ve done, or from which I’ve learned so much up close or by watching their films. I started out as an editor, and I particularly want to elevate the editors of documentaries. Luckily for me, I have those editors to fall back on, and my original three-hour and 45-minute speech has been cut down considerably,” he said, in a joking allusion to Musk’s runtime.

Gibney’s other numerous other credits include the Academy Award-winning Taxi to the Dark Side, Oscar-nominated Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, Primetime Emmy-winning Going Clear: Scientology & The Prison of Belief, and Primetime Emmy winner Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God.

He noted some interesting experimentation in the doc world now that “hopefully, as a collective, we can all get behind to make sure that our films are seen by the audiences who want to see them.”

Filmmaker-sound recordist JT Takagi was also honored with a Lifetime Achievement award. Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Stephen Maing received the Robert and Anne Drew Award for Documentary Excellence. Raney Aronson-Rath (20 Days in Mariupol), editor-in-chief and executive producer of Frontline on PBS, took the fest’s Leading Light Award.

Alex Gibney (in person and on screen) at DOC NYC Visionaries Tribute lunch