The Visit

     The night before leaving to see my ailing father, weeks before he died, my wife and I talked about growing up in Cleveland many years ago. She talked about visits with her terrifying grandmother, obese uncle and random boarders in a small dilapidated house in an impoverished neighborhood on Cleveland’s near east side. 

     At my father’s kitchen table I began drawing images based on these tales, I created a story of an 8 year old girl, left on her own with her scary, mean spirited family. Two weeks later everything was about Covid 19. I let the images stew in my brain while the world seemed to close in on itself, and in time my ideas and images morphed into a short film idea. The story was inspired by my wife’s recollections, then filtered though my imagination, and and presented as if through the eyes and mind of my fictional 8 year old character.. 

     With a tiny budget, and by acting as designer, costumer, carpenter, prop master, musician, and with the support of my family and a tiny but talented crew, I drew from a passion for filmmaking that I hadn’t exercised in many years… and made the visit. I hope you like it. - Mitchell