How would a found footage film look if the footage was never found? This conceptual art experiment questions the very nature of film and cinema while serving as an ironic tribute to the found footage horror pop culture. The found footage format provides the narrative justification for such a film to exist: the non-existence exists because the footage existed yet it was lost and never found. Inspired by John Cage's 4'33", Andy Warhol's Empire and Shirley Clarke's The Connection. Festival selections: Vienna Shorts, Unnamed Footage Festival in San Francisco (2022 World Premiere), BIEFF, FilmQuest, Hamilton Film Festival. Banned by the state film authority in Morocco, and as a result Rabat Author Film Festival was forced to cancel the screening. In coming up with this film I was inspired by John Cage's experimental piece of music 4'33'' which consists of 4 minutes and 33 seconds of silence, thus questioning the nature of music, and by Andy Warhol's experimental film "Empire" (1965) consisting of an 8 hours long static shot of the Empire State Building, thus questioning the nature of film. I've long been wanting to create a piece of cinematic art in the vein of the two above, but just presenting a black screen would've been meaningless without proper context. Until recently when I've realized that the found footage format provides the narrative justification for such a film to exist. The non-existence exists because the footage existed, yet it was lost and never found. What sparked my realization was the discovery of Shirley Clarke's "The Connection" (1961), which is the first known feature shot in the found footage format and beginning with a found footage title card. "The Connection" is notable as well for featuring a predominantly black cast and being directed by a woman years before the Social Rights Act of 1964. The fact that found footage began with an artsy experiment challenging the social status quo, ahead of its times on so many levels, and not with a vile film killing animals on camera (Cannibal Holocaust), I believe raises a lot the bar for this filmmaking format and demands that we all take it more seriously.
—Adrian Tofei