Wax, or the Discovery of Television Among the Bees

Wax or the Discovery of Television Among the Bees was the first film on the Internet. Wax is the first independent feature film by American filmmaker and artist David Blair. Released in 1991, Wax was a cult hit, playing cinemas in 26 U.S. cities and had additional theatrical play in Japan and Australia. Wax was a co-production with ZDF, German Television, and opened theatrically to rave reviews at the Public Theater in New York. Wax was included in a number of 10 Best Film lists that year. As the first film streamed across the Internet in 1993, the New York Times declaring Wax or the Discovery of Television Among the Bees an “historic event.” That same year, the hypermedia version of the film, Waxweb, was one of the first sites on the World Wide Web, and thus has been repeatedly cited as a milestone of Internet Art. Waxweb has been presented in museums worldwide. Wax or the Discovery of Television Among the Bees was an early example of digital cinema, was one of the first independent films to be edited on a digital non-linear system, the Montage Picture Processor, and transferred from video to film for theatrical presentation. Blair performs in the film, which additionally features a cameo by William Burroughs. As an anti-war statement, Wax provided an early critique of the Gulf War and current-day drone warfare. A combination of innovative digital animation, found footage, and live action, Wax’s visual form is a unique representation of the technologies and politics that it critiques, which still reverberate today. Wax or the Discovery of Television Among the Bees and Waxweb have been supported by substantial grants, co-production, and international sales. Grants for this project include three awards from the New York State Council for the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, New York Foundation for the Arts, American Film Institute, Jerome Foundation, and Checkerboard Foundation.