David Thomas Broughton is by far one of the most fascinating, unusual, eccentric, surprising, delightful artists I’ve come across. His live performances are unpredictable, reminiscent of silent comedy and Dadaist performance. Such an artist deserves a documentary and work on one is currently underway.
David is from Otley near Leeds, but he lives in South Korea and only occasionally comes back to Europe to perform. David is not mentally ill, nor did he die in the 1970’s from a drug overdose, nor has he had six wives. This will not be a documentary film with a narrative arc of rock and roll sensationalism. The arc to this film will be provided by David’s unique creativity and approach to performance as told by the musicians, critics, promoters and friends that know him best. It’ll be further explored by my cameras and microphones, which will be looking to work out what makes David’s creativity so exciting, fresh and original. The film will consist of many layers and textures, from traditional talking head interviews to comical animations, from archive footage to exclusive insights into David’s creative process.
The final film may be 30 minutes long but, with your financial help in achieving the required target, it could be something much much more in terms of length and scale. It should, or could, be a feature and hopefully will (that’s about 63 minutes or something).
Featuring a ton of great archive footage, as well as interviews with some of David’s fans – including Shearwater’s Jonathan Meiburg, Sam Amidon and David Shrigley. However, the production has been entirely self-financed so far. In August David will be locked in a room for two days, where he’ll write an entire set from scratch to later perform at the End of the Road Festival. He’ll then be asked to watch an edit of his creations back and commentate on his thought process, which will then be visually interpreted later in the edit.
With six days left, they’ve already managed to raise £5,000 – that’s 50% of their target.
The crowdfunding campaign for The Ambiguity of David Thomas Broughton is in its final days. The film promises to provide a unique insight into the creative process of one of today’s most eccentric and surreal performers.
Help the film get made (and get some great funder perks) over on the Indiegogo page: