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UPDATED: Sept. 23, 2020 at 10:38 a.m.

Syracuse University alumnus Carlton Daniel Jr. and SU doctoral student Evan Starling-Davis created their first short film together. But this is only the beginning for the two, as they plan on releasing it as a feature film in the future.

Their short film, “Homegoing,” is about a Black teenager who wants to stray away from his father’s expectations of working in a funeral home while balancing his social life. The film first debuted Sept. 3 to 5 at the Everson Museum Plaza as part of the “Horizons: New Film out of Central New York” showcase hosted by Light Work’s Urban Video Project. Starring Khalil Kain and Malik Shakur, the film took over two years to create.

Daniel said the story portrays a day in the life of a young, queer Black man in a suburban community. He wants to show both the positive and the negative aspects through the lens of the main character.

“These characters are really complex and multidimensional. I really just wanted to offer or portray kind of what the complete portrait of what Black men in America experience,” Daniel said.

Daniel Jr. and Starling-Davis began filming their short film in 2018 and featured local Syracuse locations such as Studio 54. Courtesy of Carlton Daniel Jr.

One of Daniel’s first jobs was working at a funeral home in his hometown Cleveland, Ohio. His experience influenced the making of the film.

Daniel said that Black funeral homes are not just people coming in to bury their loved ones.

“These families are really pivotal pieces and parts of the community and the fabric of the community, and they’re really there to help support the families and help them through the grieving process,” Daniel said.

While a student at SU, Daniel felt guilty about not being more involved in the Syracuse community outside of the university itself, he said. But that experience would later come to life when he started working on the film and collaborating with the city about two years ago, after graduating from Syracuse.

Daniel and Starling-Davis began work on the film in 2018. The film crew utilized two Syracuse funeral homes without charge and created strong relationships with the family-owned businesses, Daniel said. They also filmed in a Syracuse club called Studio 54 during one of the film’s scenes.

Starling-Davis, who is also a Syracuse native, helped provide resources by bringing in friends, family and locals to participate in the film. Daniel added no one was paid, but everyone was happy since they knew they were making “something that was bigger.”

Starling-Davis said that shooting in Syracuse was special, and he was very intentional when it came to casting and incorporating locals.

“How can we give people chances? How can they give us a chance in telling a piece of this history of Syracuse?” Starling-Davis said. “Syracuse is such a beautiful place, and just finding those little magical moments of cinema time and screen time is really cool.”

Chester Algernal Gordon, a co-producer for the film, said that the movie talks about the main character, Junior, finding himself. After Junior loses one of his friends to gang violence, he decides what he wants to do in life.

The film’s name, “Homegoing,” relates to the African American funeral tradition of transcending from life. For the main character, he chooses to continue life’s journey after being confined in an undesired place.

“When we do our homegoing that is what it’s about — sharing those memories and energy,” Algernal Gordon said. “All those problems in life that we have had with them and couldn’t talk about, sometimes we end up talking about it with each other, and see that a lot of times it wasn’t that serious.”

Depicting Black lives was also a priority for “Homegoing,” Starling-Davis said, and he and Daniel wanted to portray what it was like living as a Black man in society.

The film took two years to create and debuted Sept. 3 at the “Horizons: New Film out of Central New York” showcase. Courtesy of Carlton Daniel Jr.

In the future, Starling-Davis, Daniel and Algernal Gordon all plan on making more films in general. But they specifically plan on adapting “Homegoing” into a full feature film.

Daniel explained that the feature film is in development, and his next steps would be to receive grants and find investors to finance it. He and Starling-Davis hope to go back to Syracuse to turn the film into a full feature.

“We don’t get to tell too many stories from here,” Starling-Davis said. “I hope people can, I hope the guy who isn’t a part of this community, who may not have any Black friends, or never been in a city like Syracuse before, can watch this film (and) see these characters, and see that they’re human.”

CORRECTION: In a previous version of this post, a statement from Carlton Daniel Jr. was misattributed. A previous version of this post also misstated the name of the film “Homegoing” in a pull quote and misstated Carlton Daniel Jr.’s status as an SU alumnus in a photo caption. The Daily Orange regrets these errors.

Published on September 21, 2020 at 10:33 pm

racramer@syr.edu