Ethnic film bridges heritage months

"Follow Me Home," a film that explores ethnic identity in America, played at the Michigan Theater yesterday, bringing together Latino/a Heritage Month and Native American Heritage Month.

The movie, which was not shown in national theaters, ties artistic, musical and spiritual themes together to portray a modern tale of four friends of different ethnical backgrounds.

The characters, two Latino Americans, a Native American and an African American, travel across the United States with the intent of painting a mural of their ancestors on the White House. In addition to meeting a black woman along the way and surviving a confrontation with a group of racists, the four young men come to terms with individual struggles and questions of identity.

"The movie was unique in that people watching were able to identify with the characters' cultures," said Jodi Cook, co-chair of Native American Student Association. "I think it was a positive thing for those in the audience to recognize things in their cultures."

Shannon Martin, Native American coordinator at the Multi-Ethnic Student Affairs Office, was one of the organizers of the event.

"It's so exciting," Martin said. "It's taken a long time to plan this. I hope people left with an appreciation and understanding of other cultures."

The film was directed and produced by Peter Bratt, and marked his directorial debut. Bratt had planned to hold a question and answer session following the screening, but could not fly to Ann Arbor due to flight delays.

"He said that he expressed his sincere apology for not being able to come, but he said that he hopes everyone enjoyed the movie," Martin said.

"I thought it was great," said Tara Young, program coordinator at the Office of Academic Multi-Cultural Initiatives. "As a woman of color, to be able to see things that relate to my African American heritage - that was rare."

Jasmeen Khilji, communications chair for Alianza, a Latino/a group, said the film shed light on underappreciated aspects of society

"I think the movie definitely portrayed things we don't see in society. I hope other people will get a sense of that too," Khilji said.

More than 500 students, faculty and Ann Arbor residents attended the film. Joe Reilly, Native American Student Association co-chair, said his group helped sponsor the event.

"I was glad to see so many people, but I was already expecting a lot," Reilly said. "I liked it because it confronted a lot of issues about American society that you don't get to see in mainstream films."

The film was not picked up by any Hollywood distributors, and has instead travelled across the United States to universities and small colleges.

"It really irritates me that the big movie houses didn't pick this up because it was 'too ethnic,'" Young said.

Virginia Gidi.0, a graduate student in the School of Public Health, said she was drawn to the film because of her interest in issues of ethnicity, race and identity.

"I absolutely loved the movie," Gidi said. "It makes an incredible statement about this country's past and present. It makes a suggestion about where we need to be going in the future. I wish more people would see movies like this, because it makes a tremendous impact."

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