Sam Klemke’s Time Machine, A Documentary About a Man Who Has Filmed His Life Yearly Since 1977

Director Matthew Bate of Closer Productions has created “Sam Klemke’s Time Machine“, a full-length award-winning documentary about the visionary early vlogger who has been filming every year of his life since 1977, long before the word “selfie” became part of the common vernacular. The film is currently available to rent and/or purchase through Vimeo or to stream via Netflix.

In 1977, Sam Klemke started obsessively documenting his entire life on film. Beginning decades before the modern obsession with selfies and status updates, we see Sam grow from an optimistic teen to a self-important 20 year old, into an obese, self-loathing 30-something and onwards into his philosophical 50s. The same year that Sam began his project, NASA launched the Voyager craft into deep space carrying the Golden Record, a portrait of humanity that would try to explain to extra terrestrials who we are. From director Matthew Bate (Shut Up Little Man! An Audio Misadventure), Sam Klemke’s Time Machine follows two unique self-portraits as they travel in parallel – one hurtling through the infinity of space and the other stuck in the suburbs of Earth – in a freewheeling look at time, memory, mortality and what it means to be human.

Sam Klemke’s 2011 backwards-moving timelapse video

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.