Why we picked it – A remarkably inventive work in which film technique cleverly complements and enables the time-twisting story-telling.
Synopsis -Two sisters build a machine that can receive radio and TV broadcasts from the future. It starts as fun and, hard up for cash, they find they can see the next day’s racing results and bet accordingly. They discover the surprising world of 1970s music and dance before its time. Then World War II starts and the machine becomes a weapon of war, initially defensive but then intervening more actively and changing history as we know it to be. When they can no longer find David Bowie, they too realise they are changing the future in fundamental ways. How this is resolved provides a surprising, but entirely consistent, end to the film.
The film – The film was shot on film in black and white using historical cameras. This was not only cheaper and also supports the premise that it is “found footage”. The film was made during Covid so the actors were given the Bolex camera, which they learned how to use in isolation, making their footage on 16mm all the more realistic. Fictional newsreel footage was shot on 35mm using a 1930s Newman Sinclair camera. This enabled the insertion of archival footage, some of it digitally manipulated, to create a credible altered future. This will make more sense when you see the film; it is hard to discuss without giving too much away. Here is a podcast with the director in which he discusses the film. It is an hour and even though the interview with Andrew Legge starts at 16 mins in, it is long – even for me.
Director: Andrew Legge; Writers: Andrew Legge, Angeli Macfarlane; Cinematography: Oona Menges, Ireland, 2022, 79 mins, 15