I've just seen what I think is actually the most depraved, unethical piece of documentary filmmaking I've ever seen. I'm quite upset and I think that anyone planning to watch it should reconsider. It's called DTF.

The premise is simple. A filmmaker decides to follow his mate, who is a pilot, around for the world for 18 months as he searches for love through Tinder. Turns out unfortunately that his friend has a drinking problem, and, as the apparently filmmaker decides, a sex addiction

The film is really badly made, with the shoddiest editing I've seen in a while, but I'm not going to waste time talking about that. But I do think that the films ethics are worth discussing, particularly as some of the behaviour that goes on is actually criminal

The pilot is filmed going on dates. He's not hugely comfortable with being filmed, repeatedly asking the filmmaker not to film, but he does it anyway, because apparently consent isn't important here (in more ways than one, more on that later)

The first date appears to go well and he sleeps with the woman. He's horrified the next day to discover that she is HIV positive (no attempt at discovering if she's transmitting, no attempt at educating anyone about HIV). He takes a test, the film continues

It later transpires that he lied about taking it, but whatever. We continue to watch this man, who can only be described as a sexual predator, going on dates, many that end with him steaming drunk, complaining that the women wouldn't get drunk enough for them to fuck him

He often ends up paying for sex workers, who he speaks about in terms you can only imagine coming from the mouth of a poorly written B movie, whilst the whole crew just watch and enable this really dangerous man to keep going on dates. Sounds hideous right? But it gets worse

The filmmaker is notably uncomfortable with this behaviour. After a scene where the guy trawls the streets of Hong Kong looking for poverty striken nannies who will agree to fuck him for money (and then calling them sluts when they refuse) I really thought he'd had enough- but no

The straw that breaks the camels back is when, following a failed date where the poor woman refused to fuck him within 5 minutes of meeting him, he tells the filmmaker, quite seriously, that he's going to find a homeless woman who will have sex with him in exchange for food

Think that was bad? It wasn't even the worse bit! After finally agreeing to 'be cool and have fun' one night, the filmmaker has his drink spiked by none other than the protagonist. The crew do nothing. Then, in what has to be the most distressing thing I've ever seen in a film...

The filmmaker, unconscious from the spiking, is sexually assaulted in a strip club. I can't actually describe the scene because to do so would be unethical in itself, but it involves his mate, a stripper, and an apparently willing film crew

The fact that this happens is never addressed, and in fact, the crew are more upset about the fact the filmmaker, when he was unconscious in the hotel, has a cum filled sex toy rubbed in his face. Yes, we are treated to a close up of the cum

To continue to put women in danger (you think this guy isn't spiking women?) and to include this behaviour without any attempt at all of interrogating it, of ensuring the safety of these women, of the crew, of the fucking director himself, is deeply, deeply worrying

I don't know if there's anything more important in documentary filmmaking than consent, and I don't think I've seen anything more unethical than what I've just witnessed.

The film, by the way, played at the Manchester Film Festival, where the filmmaker is director of programming and the producer is director of operations. So yeah, ethics not really a thing here. Anyway, I'm annoyed.