"This is a story about generational trauma": the American director J. Mitchell Johnson about the film Coming Home
The American director and screenwriter J. Mitchell Johnson introduced his film Coming Home, which is part of the Documentary Film Competition of the 48th Moscow International Film Festival.
Filmed over a period of 14 years in California and Russia, the film tells the story of an elder of the Kashia Pomo tribe who, along with two fellow tribesmen, sets out on a journey to reclaim their lands after 170 years of dispossession resulting from the genocide of California’s indigenous peoples. In the film, tribe members themselves speak about the devastating generational trauma, about historical loss and the aftermaths of colonial policies.
J. Mitchell Johnson: "I’ve long been interested in the relationship between Russia and America. I didn’t know about Fort Ross until I visited it for the first time in 2011 and met one of the Russian officials there. That’s where the idea of this film began. At that moment I learned the Kashia Pomo tribe were raising money to travel to Russia. This is a story about reclaiming land and generational trauma".