Filmmakers from Texas have held the world premiere of a documentary on the life of a mortician from Galveston during the Austin Film Festival. The 29th Austin Film Festival is taking place this week at theaters in Central Texas.
Song of the Cicada chronicles the work of Dale Carter, who has worked as a mortician in Galveston for the past 32 years.
"I had always wanted to be a funeral person because I had seen my great grandmother in her casket," Carter says. "I was a six year old boy, and I wondered how did they get her to look so good? A kid is curious."
"Dale has devoted himself to being there for families in their darkest hour," says Aaron Weiss. "We wanted to paint a picture of a man and a person who really isn't seen or talked about in our society."
Aaron Weiss and his cousin, Robert, directed and produced Song of the Cicada. Aaron Weiss is from Austin; Robert Weiss is from Galveston and graduated from Booker T. Washington High School in Dallas.
Robert Weiss says the project changed as they got to know Carter. He says they never set out to make a documentary about embalming. Instead, they had planned to produce a documentary on why Carter chose that line of work. Robert Weiss says that plan for the film kept evolving.
"We were interested in the reasons why he does this because it's really a difficult profession," Robert Weiss says. "How do you not take your work home with you? In addition to that, Dale, as you can probably tell is a bit of a philosopher, so it's nice to hear his musings on life, his interactions with his friends, and his interests beyond that which is to try to save an historic house in Beaumont, Texas and leave it as a memory picture for the City of Beaumont."
"What we're doing is trying to help people's memory, their closure, to see their mother looking grand again like they remember," Carter says. "It's a celebration of life. We get together at a funeral. People you haven't seen in years, they all come together, and they all tell funny stories about the deceased."
The Weiss cousins say the film ultimately shifted to telling the story of how a legacy develops.
"Let's put you in the same situation: You have your best friend in the world or your mother or whoever is significant to you. Imagine that person. What if you got a phone call and they said they were killed in a car crash? Immediately, you go into an emotional shock," Carter says. "The world stops for you. Who comes in to try to help comfort you? People of our nature. We're going to try to help you through this."
Carter says Song of the Cicada can show how he does his work and how he tries to give family members a positive memory of a loved one who has passed away.
"I am slow in poke. I'm a slowpoke, but I will make you look 110% good," he says. "To the best of my knowledge, you will look and feel dreamy."
Carter says he hopes people who see Song of the Cicada will gain a better understanding of the work done by people who work in the funeral and memorial professions.
"I want them to take away, in their mind and in their memory, what we do is very important because it is the very essence of our humanity to care about someone and their friends when someone dies, to care enough to give it 110% even though the rest of the world will not know any of the process," he says.
Song of the Cicada premiered at the Austin Film Festival and will play at Lone Star Film Festival in Fort Worth November 12. Details about the film are available at www.songofthecicada.com .
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