The Camera Never Lies

How David Bowie fits into LOLA’s Second World War-set found footage film

FOUND FOOTAGE MOVIES HAVE virtually become a genre in themselves over the past 25 years. But while most are patched together from old VHS or iPhone clips, few make use of unearthed footage from eight decades ago. That’s the conceit behind LOLA, a low-budget but toweringly inventive feature from first-time director Andrew Legge about two sisters who, during the early days of the Second World War, create a machine that can intercept broadcasts from the future.

“I liked the idea of doing a period found footage movie,” Legge tells Red Alert. “I loved the idea of these sisters outside the time they’re in. And I loved the idea of doing a time travel movie but a slightly different version, as LOLA isn’t a time machine.”

The seeds of LOLA lie in a 2009 short written and directed by Legge, titled “The Chronoscope”. That film, presented in documentary style, told the story of a fascist group in ’30s Ireland who steal a device that can see into the past.

“I like the idea of exploring time travel,” explains Legge, “but in a way where you can’t actually travel in time, you can just get information through it. In ‘The Chronoscope’ there was a plausibility, getting information from the past – more than in LOLA, where it’s from the future.”