FRAUD
A film by Dean Fleischer-Camp
2016, 53 minutes
2016, 53 minutes
No. 081
Documentary
Documentary
Description
Assembled from over 100 hours of home movies shot by an unknown man of his family over a period of seven years and uploaded to Youtube, Fraud is a daringly innovative work – a found footage thriller – that reveals one family’s struggle for the American Dream and the nature of truth in the internet age.
While on YouTube one day, filmmaker Dean Fleischer-Camp came upon a trove of home videos documenting the ubiquitous activities of an unknown American family: birthday parties, trips to the mall, resort vacations.
In this material however, he discovers a sensational story worthy of a pulp crime novel. Drowning in debt but driven by an insatiable hunger for material wealth and instant gratification (the new iPhone!), a middle-class family concocts a plot to maintain their unsustainable lifestyle, even if it means embarking on a desperate cross-country crime spree.
Employing extraordinary cinematic sleight of hand, from subtle visual juxtapositions, minute re-framings and the implied authority of date stamps, among a multitude of other techniques, Fleischer-Camp fashions a bold, of-the-moment vision of American society.
While on YouTube one day, filmmaker Dean Fleischer-Camp came upon a trove of home videos documenting the ubiquitous activities of an unknown American family: birthday parties, trips to the mall, resort vacations.
In this material however, he discovers a sensational story worthy of a pulp crime novel. Drowning in debt but driven by an insatiable hunger for material wealth and instant gratification (the new iPhone!), a middle-class family concocts a plot to maintain their unsustainable lifestyle, even if it means embarking on a desperate cross-country crime spree.
Employing extraordinary cinematic sleight of hand, from subtle visual juxtapositions, minute re-framings and the implied authority of date stamps, among a multitude of other techniques, Fleischer-Camp fashions a bold, of-the-moment vision of American society.
Festivals
Official Selection, Hot Docs Film Festival
Official Selection, Sheffield Doc Festival
Official Selection, Rotterdam International Film Festival
Official Selection, BAM Cinema Fest
Official Selection, Sheffield Doc Festival
Official Selection, Rotterdam International Film Festival
Official Selection, BAM Cinema Fest
Reviews
“Deceptively raw yet elegant…pushes the boundaries of documentary, gesturing at larger truths.” - Variety
“Mixing cinéma vérité and a morality play, Fraud evokes much broader conversations about American materialism, consumerism and capitalism. More importantly, it speaks to the truthiness of information on the web.” - Paste Magazine
“Fleischer-Camp has made a found-footage thriller, except the footage is real and the thriller is fabricated… It works superbly.” - Boston Globe
“A disturbing, successful, and darkly comic riff on advanced consumerism in the internet age, a film that merges the cold soul of early Haneke with the visual flare of… like PewDiePie or someone?” - Filmmaker Magazine
"The experience of watching it is exhilarating." - Sight and Sound
“Mixing cinéma vérité and a morality play, Fraud evokes much broader conversations about American materialism, consumerism and capitalism. More importantly, it speaks to the truthiness of information on the web.” - Paste Magazine
“Fleischer-Camp has made a found-footage thriller, except the footage is real and the thriller is fabricated… It works superbly.” - Boston Globe
“A disturbing, successful, and darkly comic riff on advanced consumerism in the internet age, a film that merges the cold soul of early Haneke with the visual flare of… like PewDiePie or someone?” - Filmmaker Magazine
"The experience of watching it is exhilarating." - Sight and Sound
