With a baited handling of American symbolism, filmmaker RaMell Ross joins five men in the deep South, Alabama, who resurrect the homestead ritual of hog processing under the guidance of Johnny Blackmon.
Cinematography
Ross's tactile, close-up intimacy transforms labor into art.
Direction
Patient observation that refuses to explain itself.
Sound
Ambient sound design you feel in your bones.
Director
RaMell Ross
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Hog butchering as communal Black tradition stretches back to enslaved communities who were often given the least desirable cuts. Ross documents what corporate agriculture has nearly erased.
Ross shot this between takes of his feature 'Hale County This Morning, This Evening' — the same patient gaze, compressed into concentrated form.
US
