Cullen James Hoback (born July 15, 1981)^[2] is an American film producer and director. He is also an occasional columnist and speaker. His documentary films include Monster Camp (2007), Terms and Conditions May Apply (2013), and What Lies Upstream (2018), as well as the HBO mini-series Q: Into the Storm (2021). His documentary style has been described as non-fiction horror with a comedic tone.^[3] He appears on-camera as a central character in Terms and Conditions May Apply^[4] and What Lies Upstream.^[5]

Following the release of Terms and Conditions May Apply, Hoback has written op-eds for many journals including The Guardian,^[6] presented to the American Bar Association Section of Antitrust Law,^[7] and has appeared as a privacy expert on networks and shows including MSNBC, CNN, NPR, Huffington Post, Stossel,^[8] and The Young Turks.

Hoback directed his first notable film, Monster Camp, in 2007. The film considers various aspects of escapism involved in live-action role playing.^[9] The film premiered at the Cinequest Film Festival in 2007 and won the Audience Award for the best documentary.^[10] The film also screened at the Seattle International Film Festival and more than 50 other festivals, ultimately receiving a limited theatrical release.^[11][12]

Hoback's 2010 film FrICTION is nominally fiction, featuring actors playing characters based on themselves – including a married couple, a teenage student at their arts camp, and Hoback himself – but contains documentary elements, as the production of the scripted film affects the relationships of the actors.^[13]

In 2013, Hoback released the documentary film Terms and Conditions May Apply, which premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival before going onto various film festivals including Seattle International, Hot Docs and Festival Do Rio. He received a jury prize for best documentary feature at both the Newport Beach Film Festival and Sonoma International Film Festival.^[14] The film received a largely positive critical reception, with a cumulative score of 84% on Rotten Tomatoes.^[15] Hoback co-hosted a Q&A about the film on Reddit, with Edward Snowden’s legal counsel at the time, Ben Wizner.^[16] Hoback also held a screening in Washington DC for a number of high-powered officials and policy-makers, hosted by Congressman Justin Amash.^[6][17] Afterwards, Hoback moderated a discussion with whistleblowers Thomas Drake, Russell Tice, and whistleblower attorney Jesselyn Radack. In partnership with Demand Progress, 20,000 signatures were collected and delivered to lawmakers demanding they get educated on digital privacy.^[6][18]

In 2018, Hoback theatrically released What Lies Upstream, a feature documentary focused on scientific regulatory agencies, and the government oversight of drinking water safety.^[19][5] The film questions whether the Flint Water Crisis and the Elk River Chemical Spill, are outliers or signifiers of a nationwide scandal.^[20] What Lies Upstream was the opening night film at the 2017 Slamdance Film Festival,^[21] screened at AFI Docs,^[22] and received a Special Jury Prize for Investigative Filmmaking at The Seattle International Film Festival.^[23] The film was picked up by PBS' Independent Lens^[24] and has been met with a positive critical reception.^[25]

Hoback directed and produced a docuseries about the QAnon conspiracy theory, titled Q: Into the Storm. It premiered on HBO in March 2021.^[26] The series received mixed reviews, with some critics praising its insight into the conspiracy theory, but other reviewers criticizing it for not following best practices outlined by extremism researchers for reporting on extremism and conspiracy theories. Anti-disinformation researchers and journalists expressed concerns that the series might become a recruiting tool for QAnon. Joan Donovan of Harvard's Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy said that its portrayal of Q as "edgy and exciting" could attract new followers.^[27] Adi Robertson wrote in The Verge that the series "breaks several best practices for reporting on extremism", and that it "embodies all the ways that idealistic journalistic values — a devotion to humanizing subjects, a goal of exposing powerful wrongdoers, and a belief that exposing truth will set people free — fail in the face of extremist movements".^[28] Alec Bojalad wrote for Den of Geek that "Q: Into the Storm takes for granted that its viewing audience has a solid grip on reality, ignoring years of recent evidence to the contrary".^[29] Hoback responded to the criticism by declaring that the extensive airtime given to followers of QAnon was necessary in order to show the forces behind it.^[30]

His next project was the 2024 documentary film Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery which explores the origins of the cryptocurrency Bitcoin and the identity of its pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto. Much of the media coverage of the film emphasized the credible public interest of Hoback’s journalistic investigation including Satoshi’s identity: noting wallets associated with Satoshi total around 1 million BTC or roughly six percent of total circulation, and presumed to be in his or her control, posing a risk to Bitcoin’s value.^[31] It was said that the Bitcoin community is incentivized to keep Satoshi anonymous,^[32][33] but commentators emphasized there could be concern for any public figures who became suspects including from the unwanted invasion of their privacy.^[34][35] Hoback proposes a theory that Bitcoin developer Peter Todd may be Satoshi Nakamoto.^[36] Todd denied that he was Nakamoto, stating in the film that it was "ludicrous".^[37] Hoback acknowledges that the evidence is speculative.^[38][39]

Hoback has been critical of the relationship between corporations and the government, arguing that they've been complicit in creating a surveillance system.^[18][5] On December 25, 2013, Cullen Hoback and Ondi Timoner released a lengthy conversation about how the surveillance situation has evolved since her film, We Live in Public. In an interview with The Guardian earlier that month in December 2013, Hoback commented that whistleblower Edward Snowden should be granted immunity by the US government.^[17] Hoback has written several op-eds for The Guardian, one of which focused on how people need to reclaim control of their digital identities.^[6] In October 2014, Hoback was a featured speaker at the annual TED event in Jacksonville, titled We Don't Have a Privacy Problem.^[40]

• Cullen Hoback at IMDb