Home in the Making: Reflections on a Filmmaking Process
by Bashirah Mack
‘Home in the Making,’ directed and produced by Bashirah Mack, is a micro profile about what makes a home and how to make it.
In bell hooks’ Belonging: A Culture of Place (2009), she asks, “What does it mean to call a place home?” It is from here that I sought to answer.
Shelf life: an assortment of writings from bell hooks and Zora Neale Hurston.
After moving across country four times in three years, I yearned to settle into a space that would hold me—all of me. When I first moved into my apartment, I treated it as a blank canvas, a space for me to adorn with minimalist mid-century modern furniture, where the memory of my ancestors would live daily, and a place where calm, intellectual curiosity, and creativity would reside.
I looked forward to creating from this space. And the Resisting Narratives of Erasure fellowship offered me that opportunity.
In my approach to making this film, I knew I wanted to turn the camera inward. As an early-career documentary filmmaker, that’s something I’d never done. But I’m glad I did! And for my fellow filmmakers, I highly recommend it.
Because I’m very comfortable being off camera, both producing and directing, for me to add main character to my list of responsibilities—and stress—shifted my perspective.
I now know what it feels like to sit in the hot seat, even if it’s my own mustard colored sofa. I’m now well-acquainted with pre-filming butterflies and awkward rituals to work through the angst. I now know what it feels like to be vulnerable while staring down the barrel of a cinematographer’s lens. And after this experience, I empathize fully with anyone sharing their story to camera.
Another consideration I had for this film related to crew. As a recent transplant, I wondered, where would I find creative community and who could I trust to co-create with? Thanks to my fellowship cohort, I linked with a dopeass cinematographer and a sound mixer to help visualize my musings about home.
A film still, featuring a digital print of Bilali Muhammad’s 19th century manuscript written on Sapelo Island, Georgia.
For the myriad of thoughts I had to share about home and what it means to me, the challenge lay in communicating my vision to crew so that we could collectively show homemaking in progress. And since my living space was a canvas, I had some creative ideas for how to do that.
West Africa meets West Elm: A personal aesthetic featuring a handcrafted wooden mask and a red velvet chair.
Which brings me to my final thought. As a documentary filmmaker, I come equipped with exciting visions for what a project will look like. But I’m also trained to be flexible and approach unscripted, real life in real time. So, I literally plan for the unexpected. But the one thing that I didn’t plan for, happened, and it happened on camera (Spoiler: it has something to do with using the wrong kind of nails)! My filmed reaction offers some comedic relief but the slight oversight threw a wrench in my production day. The big reveal, a pivotal scene that I’d hoped for, was lost.
Yet, what I cherish most about this experience is appreciating the work for what it is, not for what I hoped it would be. That to me is major.
And since filming, the art and practice of making a home for myself remains a joyful, playful work in progress. Because home is a process.
Bashirah Mack is a 2024 Resisting Narratives of Erasure fellow.