How ethnographic filmmaking played a part in the IDFA and SBIFF documentary Eat Your Catfish.
This post was written by Noah Arjomand.
In 2014 I was 26, living with my parents in a chaotic Harlem apartment while I attended Columbia grad school. My mother Kathryn was dying from ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), quadriplegic, and soon to have a tracheostomy so that she could survive on mechanical breathing. I had stayed in New York City to help care for her after her diagnosis in 2010, then moved in with her and my father Said after I lost my own apartment to a fire.
I took a couple of anthropology courses at NYU that raised my interest in ethnographic film, and it occurred to me that my own family life might be fodder for a documentary. There was certainly no shortage of household drama. Kathryn’s need for constant care, the healthcare system’s failure to provide sufficient support (despite the individual heroism of at-home aides and nurses), and the general gloom of mortality hanging overhead were all helping to turn simmering conflicts among Kathryn, Said, and me up to a boil.
Author: Guest Author
This article comes from No Film School and can be read on the original site.
