SXSW Film Preview: Erasing David

On February 27 of this year, President Barack Obama signed a one-year extension to the Patriot Act, allowing the government to use court-approved roving wiretaps that permit surveillance on people deemed terrorists. Whether you consider it an invasion of privacy or a good way to catch terrorist plots before they hatch, you have to admit that there’s a lot of information in the hands of the government today. What do they know about people? What do they know about...you?

That’s one of the many questions David Bond addresses in his documentary Erasing David, which makes its U.S. premiere this Friday as part of the first night of the SXSW Film Festival. When he read that England was the third most intrusive state in the world, behind only Russia and China, he started to wonder just how much of his private information was out there.

He did more than wonder, in fact—he disappeared. He decided to drop off the grid to see if he could really remain hidden. Not hard if no one’s looking for you, you say? Yeah, well, try this on: he also went and hired two of the best Private Investigators in the country to try and track him down starting with nothing more than his name. Now we’re talking!

More about the film, screening times, and trailer after the jump!

It sounds like a real life Enemy of the State, or the thing that Wired writer did—a real life game of cat and mouse, a thrilling chase film. And to some extent that’s what it is. Watching him hide and seeing the tricks these investigators pull to find him is certainly compelling. But beyond the thrill of the hunt and the striking amount of private information that these pros easily produce, Erasing David also presents other interesting issues, such as the terror and paranoia that comes with being chased and the loss of identity that comes from no longer being able to go where you want to go, to call whomever you want. If you have to disappear—if you can’t be who you are—then who are you?

The questions raised in this fascinating film are interesting, relevant, and probably unanswerable. But they’re questions we should all be asking ourselves, and our government. What Bush/Cheney started has taken on a life of its own here in the United States. It’s something we should all be thinking about. And hey, if that gets old, there’s still an exciting chase to watch! It’s a win-win!

Chasing David screens Friday, March 12th at 8:00 PM at the Hideout and Tuesday, March 16th at 11:00 AM at the G-Tech Theater in the Austin Convention Center. For the full schedule, see my.SXSW or B-Side.