"Home" Movies

"The past two years have seen us retreat into our homes in an unprecedented way. The necessity of lockdowns, quarantine periods, and social distancing with the rise of Covid-19 (and more recently, monkeypox) have forced us to contend with domestic spaces – our kitchens, bathrooms, bedrooms – almost constantly, unable to venture into the outside world in a totally safe way.

There are certain notions associated with the domestic sphere and homes in general. Often, “home” is a “constant”: a fixed geographical space where we retreat, eat, bathe, and sleep. Lockdowns and quarantines within the past two years have complicated that space; home is where we do practically everything now.

The term “home movie” is defined as: “a film made at home, or without professional equipment or expertise, especially a movie featuring one’s own activities.” But a “home movie” is not necessarily a “home” movie.

After all, “home movies,” in the traditional sense, might arbitrarily depict everything from birthdays to holidays to family picnics to weddings to graduation ceremonies… the list goes on. These moments, while valuable in their own ways, don’t necessarily convey or examine the “home.”

This program, “Home” Movies, looks at films specifically about homes and the domestic sphere, and asks: how have filmmakers, throughout history, documented and examined homes and domestic spaces? How have they explored and subverted the “home,” on screen, in ways physical, personal, and/or political? What larger patterns and trends can be discerned from the various filmic depictions of homes and domestic spaces, depending on when a given film was made and the identity and lived experiences of the filmmaker? And, for experimental and avant-garde filmmakers specifically, how has one’s home — due to the independent and low-budget nature of the job — operated as a site for work and creativity even before “work-from-home” was commonplace?

The inspiration for this screening also stems from my current life situation. I’m grateful to curate this program as I permanently relocate from Connecticut to New York City — leaving one home behind to build another home here."

—Matt McKinzie

This program will be presented by filmmaker Rrose Present at Cinema Catalunya in Terrassa, Spain, on June 13th, 2024, in cooperation with la regidoria de Cultura de Terrassa and FilmoTeca de Catalunya.