you handsome dog (don't you ever die)

In 2016, my grandfather, Tom, was an 89-year-old harmonica player who lived in a retirement home in Charlotte, North Carolina. I interviewed him that year to learn his thoughts on the sociopolitical climate of the moment, but when I finally got around to editing the footage in 2020, I found a different story altogether.

"You Handsome Dog (Don't You Ever Die)" is a short documentary about an old man who still longs for his mother, who died at a young age from Tuberculosis. It is the story of grief, and the transformational beauty that occurs when it’s allowed the space to express through music, stories, and a little bit of humor.

Click below to watch the film!