Synopsis
Composed of intimate and unencumbered moments of people in a community in Alabama’s Black Belt, Hale County This Morning, This Evening offers an emotive impression of the Historic South. Daniel Collins attends college in search of opportunity while Quincy Bryant becomes a father to an energetic son. Creating a poetic form that privileges the patiently observed interstices of their lives, RaMell Ross’ film trumpets the beauty of life and consequences of race, while simultaneously existing as a testament to dreaming - despite the odds.
A word from Tënk
With his first foray into feature-length documentaries, filmmaker RaMell Ross has created an enchanting piece of work. His attentive camera, turned toward his community, ingeniously captures the majesty that can be found in banality, all without imprisoning his subjects in a frame. Eschewing the frontality of a sociological overview, he builds fleeting details into a montage driven by an artistic quest for freedom. This oblique vision of day-to-day trivialities opens itself to the immaterially tangible: at times sublime, at others symbolic. Rarely do we see daily experience elevated to this level of poetry in film while remaining charged with latent political power.
Hubert Sabino-Brunette
Teacher and programmer
