Celluloid Circuits - Ep4: Before Snowden, There Was Bishop: Tech, Trust, and Sneakers (1992)

In this episode of Celluloid Circuits, we slip into our wiretaps and headsets to revisit Sneakers (1992), the high-tech heist movie where cryptography meets comedy. We dig into the film’s surprisingly accurate portrayal of cybersecurity, explore how it predicted the rise of surveillance culture, and unpack the technology — real and imagined — that powers the story.

From social engineering to pen testing and cryptographic paranoia, this episode explores why Sneakers still feels relevant in today’s world of black boxes and backdoors.

What We Cover in This Episode:

• Social engineering and why the human element is the ultimate vulnerability
• The rise of penetration testing and ethical hacking, before it had a name
• Why Sneakers predicted the modern cybersecurity dilemma — and did it with a wink

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And remember... “The future is only a reel away.”