Subs Heroes

The biggest fansubber community in the world was founded in Italy in 2006 by a teenager whose favourite TV series was cancelled from national television. Tired of waiting for the next season to be dubbed and broadcast, Andrea decided to create an online place where people were free to translate and share subtitles, so that everyone was free to download content and enjoy it. Anticipating and facilitating the boom of TV series mania, the site soon became a reference for millions of fans, growing far beyond any expectations. Barely legal, the site is constantly under the eye of the authorities. To keep the pace of over 200 series subbed simultaneously, the community has to adopt a highly hierarchized organisation and to impose strict deadlines on the subbers.
This high pressure, combined with the fact that no one gets money inside the community, forces the subbers to lead a double life: regular workers at day, heroes at night. Why do they do this job if there’s no material gain?