Documentary Arts has kindly made Looking for Home (2022) and Serving Second Chances (2015) available to view for free until October 23 at the links below.
Looking for Home (full movie)
Serving Second Chances (full movie)
Co-sponsored by Columbia Global Centers | Paris and Documentary Arts
Looking for Home (2022)
“Govenar’s film is a transformative, hypnotic dream which makes one question one’s idea of home itself.” - Tom Needham, “The Sounds of Film” WUSB
“‘Looking for Home’ leaps from all cliches about the meaning of ‘home’ into the existential corners of the spartan, cozy, nomadic, familial, secluded, overcrowded, and create aspects of life before, during and since the pandemic. Alan Govenar’s curiosity and camera are most thoughtful and humane.” - Janet Coleman, WBAI Radio/NY
Over the course of four years, filmmaker Alan Govenar spoke with over 60 people around the globe about the ever-evolving ways we think and feel about one of our most basic needs – from a college student in Buenos Aires to a homeless couple living in a makeshift tent in the woods, a hot dog vendor in New York City, an artist in Nairobi, and a man and woman whose unlikely relationship emerged during France’s Covid lockdown.
As global crises have left millions of people both bound to and displaced from their physical habitats, Looking for Home resonates across time and place, in search of a deeper meaning of home — a concept universally embraced, but which is now in an unprecedented state of flux.
Alan Govenar
Alan Govenar is a writer, folklorist, photographer, and filmmaker. He is president of Documentary Arts, a non-profit organization he founded in 1985 to present new perspectives on historical issues and diverse cultures. Govenar has a B.A. with distinction in American Folklore from Ohio State University, an M.A. in Folklore and Anthropology from the University of Texas at Austin, and a Ph.D. in Arts and Humanities from the University of Texas at Dallas. He is a Guggenheim Fellow, a playwright, and the author of thirty books.
Govenar’s film, Stoney Knows How, based on his book by the same title about Old School tattoo artist Leonard St. Clair, was shown at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, and was selected as an Outstanding Film of the Year by the London Film Festival. Govenar has also produced and directed numerous films in association with NOVA, La Sept/ARTE, and PBS for broadcast and educational distribution. His documentaries The Beat Hotel, Master Qi and the Monkey King, You Don’t Need Feet to Dance, and Extraordinary Ordinary People are distributed by First Run Features.
Documentary Arts
Founded in 1985 by Alan Govenar to present new perspectives on historical issues and diverse cultures, Documentary Arts is a non-profit organization based in Dallas, Texas and New York City. Over the years, Documentary Arts and Contemporary Culture organized numerous exhibitions, installations, and public programs, and both organizations continue to have an active role in the arts.
The place
For nearly sixty years, Columbia University students and faculty have come to study, teach, or pursue their research at Reid Hall, an exceptional space in the world of international education and cultural exchange. Our public events draw on the rich resources of the Columbia campus and our local partners, creating a "third space" of intellectual exploration and research that resists easy categorization. Our workshops, lectures, and performances bring together a diverse audience to address pressing issues through creative, rigorous, and open dialogue.
Today, Reid Hall is home to several Columbia University initiatives: Columbia Global Centers | Paris, Columbia Undergraduate Programs, M.A. in History and Literature, Columbia’s architecture program, and the Institute for Ideas and Imagination. This unique combination of resources is enhanced by our global network whose mission is to expand the University's engagement the world over through educational programs, research collaborations, regional partnerships, and public events.
The views and opinions expressed by speakers and guests do not necessarily reflect the official policies or positions of Columbia Global Centers | Paris or its affiliates.
