Sundance Doc “The Inventor” Examines the Mighty Rise and Fall of Theranos

Directed by Alex Gibney, the film also blames Silicon Valley's culture for fueling the massive fraud.

Alex Gibney's documentary, "The Inventor," which examines the rise and fall of the Silicon Valley blood testing startup Theranos will premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. (Photo: HBO)
Alex Gibney's documentary, "The Inventor," which examines the rise and fall of the Silicon Valley blood testing startup Theranos will premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. (Photo: HBO)

A new documentary premiering at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley, examines the meteoric rise and cataclysmic fall of the blood testing startup, Theranos. And it pulls no punches in blaming Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes for the massive fraud perpetrated by the company, throwing in some sharp elbows at a “fake it ’til you make it” culture of Silicon Valley.

Directed by Academy Award-winner Alex Gibney (for his 2008 documentary  Taxi to the Dark Side), the film digs deep into the company’s heady origins, the fawning coverage of founder Elizabeth Holmes, and the inevitable crash after a few skeptical reporters and experts figured out that the tech the company was built upon simply did not work.

According to The Verge, the film also implicates a Silicon Valley startup industry that “openly encourages companies to lie to investors, and that the lack of regulatory oversight makes it easy for charismatic liars to get away with outsized promises.”

Watch the official teaser video for the documentary below.

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