I was Here

Do you want to be in a documentary A bunch of Englishmen have turned up at the casting for a film that turns out to be the one we are sitting and watching A mixed gallery of characters who paradoxically are hoping to be cast in the roles of themselves I was Here is a social experiment with brains a heart and underplayed humour The many attendees are as diverse as people are in the real world Young and old funny and bitter selfconfident and nervous what are they hoping to find by taking part in a film The obvious answer is the simplest one themselves We look on from the other side of the camera as they take part in the experiment The contradiction between authenticity and performance is not just a question of identity It is also one of the basic conflicts of modern documentary filmmaking which Ola Jankowska and Nathalie Bianchieri turn into both a premise and a method