What is your definition of home? Mine is fairly traditional. While the connotations of that word are superficial, writer-director Alan Govenar’s Looking for Home shows that the idea of home is not so simple. This video essay explores every permutation of “home” from the perspective of people around the world. The documentary challenges the traditional definitions of home through interviews with subjects not found in traditional home settings, either by choice or circumstance.
We see that home is not necessarily a building with four walls. One family chooses to live in a trailer, while another lives in a tiny house. Then there is a couple forced to live on the streets of New York after being evicted from their place. The movie then assumes that home can be the city or country you live in, not just where you lay your head.
Looking for Home then tackles issues of family and immigration. Home is not solely about your biological family but friends and community as well. Home is not always somewhere you look forward to going to, but in some cases, some have had to flee their homeland and are left with no home to call their own.
“…explores every permutation of ‘home’ from the perspective of people around the world.”
About midway through, there’s an unexpected twist with the COVID pandemic. With the global lockdown, we were all forced to stay in our homes. Women and children were locked in their homes with their abusers. Others sought to find new “homes” by moving away from the big city.
Looking for Home is not your typical documentary. It’s primarily a series of interviews and testimonials from ordinary, everyday people seemingly asked the question, “what does ‘home’ mean to you?” Though most of its subjects are from or live in New York, Govenar takes us around the world, especially during COVID. The answers are varied and generally based on each person’s life story. The film is then broken up into the themes described above.
Watching this is a matter of preference, as it really is a collage of human experience. As a result, you’ll be treated to a cornucopia of personal and individual perspectives, which, at times, feels a bit overwhelming. As a person who lives in a traditional home with a family of my own, I wanted a bit more representation, but I get that wasn’t the point.
Looking for Home will expand your mind and pull you outside the walls of your “home,” no matter what shape, form, or location it takes.
For screening information for Looking for Home, visit the First Run Features website.
"…a collage of human experience."
