Exploring Family Dynamics by Looking Back and Moving Forward Director Thomas Allen Harris' deeply personal meditation on race, family, and identity
Written by Whitney Marin
“The narrative simply wasn’t ‘okay you’re gay, that means you have to leave your family’ or your family is unaccepting. There are these other models that were in existence,” says director, Thomas Allen Harris. “So for me that was really really important to create this film to talk about that.”
Harris’ debut feature documentary Vintage: Families of Value premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 1995 and was met with much high praise. DOC NYC’s “Doc Redux” program has brought the film back to theaters for its 21st anniversary. Harris had embarked on a deeply personal exploration within the film, which follows three black families of siblings that identify as gay, lesbian, or queer. Harris and his brother, three sisters, and a brother and sister pair are given the opportunity to interview each other to tell the stories of their family life. The film also touches on themes of black male masculinity, social identity and concepts of extended family.
Although the film started rather simply with Harris interviewing his brother, it was completed after 5 years and ultimately utilized a unique and experimental audio-visual flare, family photos, and candid interviews to tell the collaborative familial narrative. The idea of the family album has been consistent throughout his work, with his subsequent films, That’s My Face, Twelve Disciples of Nelson Mandela and Through the Lens Darkly, each driving focus to the exploration of family histories. Harris has won many awards for his work including Tribeca Film Institute’s Nelson Mandela Award, the Guggenheim Fellowship for Creative Arts, and the Sundance Institute’s Directors Fellowship. Harris has additionally been nominated for a News and Documentary Emmy.
“It was interesting to see the truth coming out of those images. I think that the film could definitely be used as a point of departure from conversations and activism today,” says Harris when asked about the commentary the film had made on black identity in the 1990s as compared to today.
Following the screening was an interactive presentation, a Digital Diaspora Family Reunion, that Harris has taken on the road several times to encourage people to actively archive and search for stories within their family photo albums. One audience member’s grandfather was John Alexander Morgan, the first black doctor in Westchester County. He immigrated to America in the 1800’s from St. Kitts and Nevis and then studied theology before attending medical school. He was also a socialist and activist in his community, often speaking out against injustice.
Vintage: Families of Value, like other films from Harris works to engage audiences in reflection on their relationships and the totality of black family life.
Whitney Marin is a freelance writer, associate producer at Tru Films, video encoder at WNET, and documentary film enthusiast. She is a contributor to the DOC NYC blog. In her spare time you can catch her writing a limited web series.
