The Image Left Behind: Kalil Haddad’s “He Never Dies”

Several of Kalil Haddad’s films begin with a school picture. An adolescent boy poses for the camera, his hair neatly brushed, his shirt clean, a wide smile revealing stubby new teeth. At face value, the school picture establishes normalcy — it’s a rite of passage and shared experience every American boy can recall. School pictures are also evidence, a paper trail of youth and innocence. The viewer has seen this before and knows what’s coming next, at least to some...