The Social Network
Join us as we kick off The WBUR Festival with a special screening of The Social Network followed by a post-film Q&A led by Morning Edition host Tiziana Dearing, with Ben Mezrich, bestselling author of The Accidental Billionaires.
The WBUR Festival is happening the weekend of May 29 - 31, 2025 and will celebrate their 75th anniversary.
David Fincher's The Social Network is the stunning tale of a new breed of cultural insurgent: a punk genius who sparked a revolution and changed the face of human interaction for a generation, and perhaps forever. Shot through with emotional brutality and unexpected humor, this superbly crafted film chronicles the formation of Facebook and the battles over ownership that followed upon the website's unfathomable success. With a complex, incisive screenplay by Aaron Sorkin and a brilliant cast including Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield and Justin Timberlake, The Social Network bears witness to the birth of an idea that rewove the fabric of society even as it unraveled the friendship of its creators.
About Tiziana Dearing
Tiziana Dearing is the host of WBUR’s Morning Edition. Prior to helping listeners start the morning with news from around the corner and around the world, Tiziana hosted Radio Boston, WBUR’s daily local magazine, for five years.
Tiziana came to journalism after a career that spanned academia, nonprofits and for-profit management consulting. She taught graduate students at the Boston College School of Social Work and chaired its program in Social Innovation and Leadership. Tiziana ran a start-up foundation focused on breaking generational cycles of poverty in Boston neighborhoods and was the first woman president of Catholic Charities for the Archdiocese of Boston.
Earlier in her work life, she ran a research center at the Harvard Kennedy School and worked in management consulting. Tiziana has won a number of awards in the city, including a Pinnacle Award from the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce and Boston Business Journal’s 40 Under 40.
About Ben Mezrich
The reigning cowboy of narrative non-fiction with a writing career spanning nineteen years, Mezrich has authored twenty-eight books – major international and New York Times Bestsellers, with well over 11 million copies sold. The genre he’s created – cinematic and unique true stories of young geniuses battling their way through the grey area between right and wrong, and succeeding at all costs – includes the wildly successful Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions, which spent sixty-three weeks on the New York Times Bestseller list. It was adapted into the hit motion picture 21.
The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, a Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal spent eighteen weeks on the New York Times Bestseller list, and appeared on hit bestseller lists in over a dozen countries. It was adapted into the critically acclaimed movie The Social Network, which was nominated for eight Oscars, winning three including Best Adapted Screenplay, and won Golden Globes for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Score. Mezrich and Aaron Sorkin share a prestigious Scripter Award for Best Adapted Screenplay as well.
Mezrich is the only non-fiction author to have two adaptations open #1 at the box office. Mezrich’s book, The Antisocial Network, was an international bestseller and a top film in theaters–Dumb Money starring Pete Davidson, Seth Rogan and America Fererra. Mezrich was a writer and consulting producer for season 5 of the TV show Billions.
