This is Yates (2013-17)
2017 · 12m
Directed by Zelda June
Genres: documentary, essay film, experimental
Tones: contemplative, melancholic, tender
An experimental documentary built from Josh Yates' personal film collection, collaging archival home media into a deeply intimate self-portrait and kaleidoscopic mixtape of youth, memory, and loss spanning four years of assembly.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
June's editorial patience over four years of assembly produces something genuinely rare — the difference between curating someone else's archive and truly inhabiting it. Two Best Experimental Film wins confirm this isn't just a clever concept, it's executed with real feeling.
Twelve minutes of someone else's home movies recut as elegy. The conceit is touching in theory; in practice it's a YouTube-era mood reel with a press kit.
Built across four years entirely from another person's private home-movie archive — found-footage archaeology of someone else's life is McElwee-and-Berliner territory, and Kiddiepunk releasing it is a quality signal.