They Called Me David began, like David themself, as an experiment.

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Taking an old Super 8mm camera purchased at a car boot sale, my partner Liam Dunn and I started filming different spots we liked around London, just to see if the camera actually worked.

After the film was developed, I was struck at how different film really is to digital video, with Super 8 in particular making all the footage appear as though it was shot decades in the past.

We then decided to assemble what we had shot into a narrative, based on a piece of flash fiction Liam had written previously. We roped in some friends to be in it and filmed some extra scenes.

To further push the idea of the film being an artefact from some alternative future, we then combined our footage with archival material available in the public domain.

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I really wanted to emphasise the lo-fi, low-res, low-tech nature of the material, its graininess contrasting with the sharpness and sheen of the digital world around us.

Although David is a product of the future, there is something about their birth that takes us back to the Atomic Age.

At the centre of it all is the character of David, who is still just a child; unaware of their power, seeking only love and acceptance. In searching for the future of humanity, we may have created the means to destroy it. 

LINDSAY HALLAM

Director