Police Brutality and Its Links to the Housing Crisis Are Themes in the Portland-Set Short “Forgive Us Our Debts” The film screens at Cinema Unbound Drive-In at Zidell Yards this weekend. DEBT OF GRATITUDE: Forgive Us Our Debts is a much-needed examination of Portland’s history of discrimination By Chance Solem-Pfeifer | Published September 22 at 7:14…
Howard’s short film ‘Forgive Us Our Debts’ is our May winner and part of our official selection for the 2021 festival
What was the inspiration behind making Forgive Us Our Debts?
I’ve always been consumed with the concept of “home,” since it looks like different things for many different people. A poet said that “home is the place that when you get there, they have to take you in.” I loved that phrase and it stuck with me for many years. Home is more than something that you can own, to me, it’s a rightful refuge. It’s meant to be untouchable. I wanted to create a salient experience for the audience to visually experience what it would feel like to have a foreign invader trespass into the most sacred space that a person can have, and have that as the threat. And then be told by this threat that this sacred refuge doesn’t belong to them anymore. I was challenged to show how something like that would feel more than anything else. The threat must be the antagonist in my film, not the greedy land developer or the police. I guess I was more interested in capturing the abstract feeling of it on camera. How would that translate?
What did you learn from the experience?
Doing some background research about the history of Oregon and its history of redlining and such I learned a lot of things. Police brutality is a symptom of persistent racial inequality and is inextricably linked to black and brown neighborhoods in the United States. I’m convinced that Police brutality and discriminatory housing policies go hand in hand as a national moral crisis. A national cure for this crisis will not come from just reforming police departments, but from reversing racist policies that have shortchanged black and brown families and even working-class poor families and neighborhoods for generations.
How has the film been received?
Really positively. The movie resonates because it’s timely. Even in a crazy pandemic like this, positive reception is happening by word of mouth and by wonderful online festivals like yours. COVID-19 has exposed the fragility of tens of thousands of renters and homeowners, many of whom lost their jobs or saw their hours cut and struggled to pay rent or mortgages at a time when access to stable housing is a public health necessity. Black and Latino families are bearing the brunt of COVID related layoffs. People are becoming more aware of the issues this movie addresses and are drawing from the energy of what’s happening right now.
What are you up to next?
I’m developing a number of ideas for a feature film but on the front burner is a hot and sweaty, pulpy crime noir. And since it’s set in Portland, and dealing with some of Portland’s sketchy humanitarian past, maybe there’ll be lots of rain. In this movie, let’s see if rain can wash its sins away.