Sometimes I Feel Like I Am Almost Home is a commissioned short film by Los Angeles–based filmmaker and visual storyteller J.J. Anderson. It explores a deeply personal concept that the artist has termed “return to self,” referring to the sometimes painful spiritual journey to reclaim the freedom, passion, and possibility of childhood as an adult. Anderson shot the film in Columbus County, North Carolina, where her grandmother was born and her extended family still lives today. Settled by British colonizers and named after Christopher Columbus, the area’s violent and racist history is compounded by Anderson’s own difficult familial past there. Nevertheless, it is the place where family has repeatedly gathered over the years to find moments of healing and joy. Sometimes I Feel Like I Am Almost Home unites new footage, archival imagery, and intergenerational interviews, presenting their alchemical combination as a quiet call to greater self-acceptance and a transmutation of generational curses into blessings.
