Coming to PBS’s POV and to NYC’s Maysles Cinema next Monday, June 24: HOMEGOINGS
Christine Turner’s look at African American approaches to funerals and death made its debut at MoMA’s Documentary Fortnight this past Winter. It has gone on to screen at Full Frame and the American Black Film Festival before its broadcast and theatrical release next week.
Isaiah Owens has had a strange affinity for funerals since he was a child, holding make-believe funerals as a regular pastime. He turned this interest into his career, running the Owens Funeral Home in Harlem (and South Carolina) for more than four decades. Owens and his family cater to an African American clientele, providing Turner with the opportunity to explore the way death is often viewed in this community. Marking a passage back home, the funerals that Owens arranges for his clients represent both a vehicle through which to mourn as well as a celebration of their lives for family and friends. Turner demonstrates this by spotlighting several funerals through the course of the film, as well as the arrangements one woman makes for her own eventual passing. Archival photos and interviews with Owens reveal the rich tradition and history of African American undertakers and funeral directors, who filled a need in their communities in a time when segregation and racism meant that white practitioners refused to serve black families. Owens is a very appealing protagonist, a man in love with, and deeply respectful of, his often misunderstood profession, making for an insightful and intriguing film.
what (not) to doc 