New Doc Follows Tinder-Addicted Pilot, Lands on VOD Sept. 15: Director’s POV

by Al Bailey, Special Correspondent

Introduction: Al Bailey’s DTF, a documentary about one pilot’s search for love and sex through Tinder and the friendly skies.  DTF will premiere at LA’s Dances With Films before a VOD launch in the United States.  DTF will be available to rent or own September 15th on Amazon, iTunes, Comcast, Spectrum, Vudu and more.

Here’s the Director’s POV on DTF

This is my first time as director, one which was both painful and amazing, but I’m up and ready to do it all over again. As for “Christian” (main character) through third parties we continue to briefly communicate, and all I can inform on his current circumstance is that he was made redundant due to the COVID pandemic. Ironically, and with my tongue firmly in my cheek, maybe this global crisis has made the skies safer for everyone.

Begin at the Beginning…
I met “Christian” in 2001/02 in Copenhagen, where I was briefly playing soccer at the time. I was on my own in a foreign country and he was an acquaintance of another friend of mine who was, like Christian, training to be a pilot. We struck up a semi friendship where we’d meet and have a few drinks. I lost touch with him upon returning to the England, but we re-united again when he started flying in and out of the UK with work, and he eventually married a mutual friend of mine.
He then moved away for a short time and we didn’t see each other much during this period, until his wife sadly passed away. We had a catch up over a few drinks some months after her passing and it was then that I was struck by the life he was living and the personal challenges that he was going through. It felt like a story that needed to be told, unfiltered and raw, but in hindsight the journey I expected was obviously far removed from the one we ultimately endured.

Tinder Moments
The genesis goal of finding love via Tinder as a pilot travelled around his testosterone fueled world had a bite and pull to it that was irresistible to any story teller, so as a production we attacked the idea with vigor and commitment and set an ambitious timeline of two years filming at the beginning of the project, given the budget requirements and “Christian’s” personal and professional commitments we knew this would be the maximum we could hope for to capture the story.

Who Needs Romance When You Have Got Bromance?
We realized very early on that the romantic sentiment of the piece was never going to be fulfilled, but as an ambitious and hungry new filmmaker I knew we had unearthed something that needed to be exposed. I always felt, from a personal point of view, that some good could come from this for “Christian” and by showing him his depraved behavior on screen would eventually help him sort his life out… Unfortunately, that wasn’t to be the case and it is now a cautionary tale and somewhat a tragedy that abruptly ended our friendship after 18 months of intense filming.
I always wanted a personal investment with a documentary, that is something I’ll always try to do, as from an audience point of view I feel it engages far more emotion for them than just someone directing behind the camera, those documentaries are fine but for me as a filmmaker it’s about investing myself and immersing into the story and the environment it takes you in.

Reality Back in Documentary Genre, a Goal
In recent times the documentary genre has taken us into a pristine reality of slick, questionably contrived narrative feature form.  I knew from the start of this journey that we had to deliver the polar opposite to this current trend and produce a raw and unfiltered documentary that was shot from the hip and be the fly on the wall to reveal Christian’s true story and psyche.
We said from the outset that myself and the crew were along to experience the journey in its fullest and that the camera’s would role no matter what, I think you can see that in the finished piece and the moral compasses that technique tests is what I feel the most interesting aspect of the film.  Co-produced with the Manchester Film festival, and a private group of investors to facilitate the production, this is a truly independent documentary that offered us the freedom to explore the more controversial elements in a no holds barred manner.

Memories, Light the Corners of My Mind’s Eye
My personal recollection of the whole experience is somewhat blurred and only now when I recollect can I really make any kind of sense of what DTF fundamentally delivers. It isn’t a satisfactory story in the sense we get a conclusion or stereotypical character arc of our subject, and neither should it be, real life and particularly lives in an environment that are alien to most aren’t written in final draft.

Jaw-dropping or Trouser-dropping?
Through all the shocking and depraved elements of the film the one aspect that can be taken away is that certain behavior patterns exist in the world of toxic masculinity and these behaviors should be documented and exposed so we can learn and eradicate them from the male psyche and society as a whole.

It was a savagely long and draining experience that is condensed into just 83 minutes and each time I see the abrupt ending it gives me a sense of relief and closure from the personal and professional journey the documentary took me on. It’s also extremely interesting that the common consensus it leaves many people with is wanting more, which ironically is the complete opposite to my own feelings.

I’ve regularly been asked if I have any stories that had happened off camera but given the nature of the documentary what you see in front is what happened behind, as the involvement of the crew is pivotal in the story we document.
The communications with both Tinder, various pilots sharing the same habits as “Christian”, and the airlines themselves are something we couldn’t legally show, so I guess for me that would be the most memorable off-camera or incidents we had to cut, as everything else the audience sees is pretty much our own behind the scenes experiences.

Patient Zero is Our Hero
Being asked why we didn’t reveal “Christian’s” identity is also another frequent question I ponder over, but one I’m now comfortable with justifying with an answer.

Aside from the obvious legal reasons, my true belief is that given what I saw over 18 months with the frequent aforementioned interaction with other long haul pilots?

I firmly believe that “Christian” is not a lone wolf in regards to his behavior as a pilot.

To reveal ‘Christian” as the one bad apple would be unjust and give the industry an easy out in response to the situations that need to be eradicated from their profession. Not that all pilots can be tarnished with the same brush, but simply singling out and dismissing “Christian” would not solve the problem, so maybe now, with this unidentified example we have shown, the airlines will look into this themselves and cleanse the behavior patterns with programs and discipline?

Afterthought
As crazy as this all has been, I will continue documenting stories that are unique and engage with a broad demographic. The thought of delivering films that emote both good and bad feelings from any subject is something that inspires me to find and deliver that next project, and the one after that. Throwing myself into each subject and their environments are the stories that I am most interested in and will continue to seek out.

Film Title: DTF

Synopsis:  Over the course of 18 months, a filmmaker follows his friend “Christian” as his career as a long-haul pilot takes him to the far corners of the Earth.  Widowed and lonely, “Christian” uses his career to find new love in far-off lands as the camera captures his misadventures in lust and love.  From the Far East to North America, the friendship of the two men is thrown into turmoil as moral compasses are tested to the limits with a whirlwind of vice and addiction. The question soon turns from can you find true love in the modern global world via dating apps, to how well do you know your closest friends when you are thrown into their secret crazy environments?

Director:  Al Bailey

Production Company: Jump Seat Productions
Distributor: Gravitas Ventures
Release Date:  September 15, 2020 (VOD)
Rating:  NR
Runtime:  83
Genre: Documentary

Click here for the official film destination.

Screenmancer thanks Al Bailey for his Director’s Point of View.

Thank you #COVID-19 too…

“Safer Skies!”

😉

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