The Time is Out of Joint

Excerpt from The Time is Out of Joint, 2024

Listen…

The time is out of joint.
Listen carefully… my voice is not from this time.
I am a ghost.
Listen… I am a voice from a lost future.

The future where you are now is different.

My future was foreseeable. Your future is impossible to imagine. My future was warm, human. Instead, where we are now is clear, cold, sharp, too sharp. In my future people seemed responsible, they were accountable. Mistakes were made but lessons were learned. Now there is little accountability. Values are no longer valued. Rights can be wronged. Rights can be removed. Progress can become re-gress.

Although many things remained unexplained in my future, we understood things. We were able to work things out. We drew diagrams. Drawings always help. We read books. We understood subtlety and nuance. We could agree to disagree. Not everyone was happy. But, it seemed possible that they could be. There was optimism! In my future there were checks and balances. We controlled the things we made. Now they control us. The machines we made transformed us into spectral versions of ourselves. We accidentally made ourselves into ghosts.

Now, events are driven by a vocal minority. Those with the loudest voices are in control. They drown out the quieter ones, those with diverse views. They want to pretend subtlety doesn’t exist. But, if you listen very carefully you can still hear the quiet voices.

Listen, and you will hear what the ghosts of another future are saying.

The time is out of joint.

Excerpt from the film transcript The Time is Out of Joint, 2024

A continuity clock from 1970s independent television for schools is running out of time. AI tools are used to regenerate a trustworthy character’s voice who invites us to listen carefully and challenge the status quo. The film replicates Alan Rothwell who was the presenter of ‘Picture Box’ an ITV Schools programme showcasing short films from around the world that ran throughout the 1970s and 80s. Rothwell’s engaging voice and friendly manner was a formative influence throughout my childhood. Here he is replicated from the past to explain that our future wasn’t always the way it is now.

Compiled largely from vintage VHS clips, found sounds and composed music and the film evokes an hauntological nostalgia for lost futures forming a critique of present day political and cultural issues. 



Single channel 4k video, stereo sound, 5.10 mins, 2024

Stills from the film The Time is Out of Joint, 2024