Tribeca Film Festival 2023: THIS IS NOT FINANCIAL ADVICE

The world of finance is a rollercoaster ride of success and failure. One moment you are riding the market to financial security and the next, you have lost everything. And in today’s ever-changing financial landscape, success is no longer for the elite. Around the globe, the internet and social media have opened the world of finance to the masses, allowing both knowledge and strategy to reach new heights and new paths of success. Yet, this is not a world where one size fits all and at this point, as the declaim for Zach Ingasci and Chris Temple‘s documentary This Is Not Financial Advice reads, “Who knows anymore”.

A documentary charting the rise and fall success of Dogecoin, This Is Not Financial Advice reaches beyond the canine crypto, allowing itself to chronicle the evolution of a democratized financial landscape and those who have chosen to navigate it.

More than one way to make a buck

This is Not Financial Advice opens on Glauber Contessoto as he walks audiences through his storage room where he keeps all his arcade games. For Glauber, the storage unit represents the life we want beyond his cramped one-room apartment. Investing everything he has into Dogecoin, his belief in cryptocurrency becomes the primary focus of This is Not Financial Advice. Two months after investing, he becomes “The Dogecoin Millionaire”, an internet success that continues to grow.

For many audiences, you will find yourself screaming at the TV as Glauber refuses to take out his millions in Dogecoin. You know the fall is coming, Glauber is about to lose it all. Yet, the film works well to show the driving force in his decisions. While it is about the money and the gambler’s sense of the potential to earn even more, it is also about the community Glauber finds. As his popularity with Dogecoin grows, so does his own confidence in himself. He begins working out and increasing his online presence, finding much of his success not in the millions of Doge but rather in likes, follows, and views.

Yet, as heavily focused as it is, This is Not Financial Advice does not strictly stay on Glauber as he goes “to the moon” holding on to his Dogecoin. Rather, it shows the various forms of success others have navigated on their own paths to success. In Long Beach, CA, the documentary introduces audiences to Senjay who has used his financial success to teach others and work towards making better housing opportunities in his community. Following a similar path, TikTok Financial Influencer Kayla gives back to her community as well, empowering her followers to reach for financial success and lifting the confidence of fellow female advisors both digitally and in person.

Conclusion

Overall, This is Not Financial Advice could have used tighter editing, at times felt overly drawn out. Yet, it achieves its overall goal, without explicitly telling audiences the right or wrong way to embark on the financial market. You see the various paths to success and both the potential financial triumphs and failures achieved by embracing the financial landscape. With the rise and falls documented, and the understanding of the various avenues the internet has opened for financial success, This is Not Financial Advice becomes a testament to the populism coming for capitalism. It is no longer for the elite, the world of finance democratized for all those who want to give it their best shot. And while some will falter and others succeed, there is always another chance for success right around the corner.

Watch This is Not Financial Advice