Bloodline (2019)

For Non-Fiction FA 2019

This documentary is inspired by a conversation with my mom about our family history. I’ve only known short stories about family members, and never understood the collection of stories that brought me to where I am now. I’ve always wondered about my grandpa's great great grandfather who was a Jewish man who came to Jamaica from England. I learned a lot about my grandpa through talking with my mom. She said his great grandmother was a Maroon, the African slaves of Jamaica that freed themselves from Spain. That was my first time hearing about Maroons, my grandfather’s childhood, and my mom’s experience immigrating to the US. My goal with this film was to sum up these stories via a phone conversation with my mom.

It was challenging to condense so much information into this film. Although there are stories and parts I had to cut, I’m happy with what I kept. The film could’ve gone in a lot of different directions, but I waned to tie in my family’s life before me and footage of me as a child to connect the past and present and my ancestral legacy.

I was inspired by the movie “Searching” (2018) to frame “Bloodline” in screen recordings, text messages, and google searches to show my point of view, process, and investigation.

Responses to “Bloodline” have been that it feels very interactive and people wanted to click on things for themselves. I hope it’s interesting for the people in my life to see, and I’m excited to have this time capsule to watch and expand upon in the future.