Filmmaker Walter Thompson-Hernández Explores Fatherhood and Myth in 'If I Go, Will They Miss Me'
Walter Thompson-Hernández has built a career documenting the overlooked corners of Los Angeles. His latest work, the feature film If I Go, Will They Miss Me, continues that mission with a deeply personal story set in the working-class neighborhood of Watts.
The 95-minute film, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2026 and opened in U.S. theaters this September, centers on a child known as Lil Ant, played by Bodhi Dell. Lil Ant grapples with the emotional distance of his father, Big Ant, portrayed by J. Alphonse Nicholson, by imagining him as Odysseus from Homer's epic poem. Danielle Brooks appears in a supporting role.
The film represents an expansion of Thompson-Hernández's 2022 short film of the same name, which won the Short Film Jury Award at Sundance. In developing the feature version, he maintained the deliberate pacing and poetic structure that characterized the short, creating a work that prioritizes atmosphere and emotional resonance over conventional plot mechanics.
Greek Mythology as Narrative Framework
Thompson-Hernández spoke about his decision to use Greek mythology as a narrative framework. The ancient stories provide Lil Ant with a way to process his father's absence and unreliability, transforming painful reality into heroic adventure. This blending of classical literature with contemporary urban life reflects the director's interest in how communities create their own myths and meanings.
The Significance of Watts
The choice of Watts as the film's setting carries particular significance. The neighborhood, which was incorporated in 1903 and annexed by Los Angeles in 1926, became a predominantly African American working-class community by the 1940s. Today, Watts has undergone demographic shifts and is now predominantly Hispanic with a significant African American minority. The area gained national attention during the 1965 riots and has long been underrepresented in mainstream cinema.
Thompson-Hernández's approach has drawn comparisons to filmmaker Charles Burnett, whose 1977 film Killer of Sheep was also set in Watts. Burnett, who grew up in the neighborhood and received an honorary Oscar in 2017, was a key figure in the L.A. Rebellion film movement of the 1970s at UCLA Film School. That movement sought to create authentic portrayals of African American life in contrast to Hollywood stereotypes, and Killer of Sheep was among the first 50 films added to the National Film Registry.
The Filmmaker's Background
The filmmaker's background informs his storytelling approach. Born and raised in Huntington Park, a southeast Los Angeles neighborhood near LAX flight paths, Thompson-Hernández earned degrees from the University of Portland and Stanford University, where he received a master's degree in Latin American Studies. His journalism career includes a stint as a Los Angeles correspondent for the New York Times, where he was part of the "Surfacing" multimedia reporting team that covered marginalized and offbeat communities. His work has also appeared in NPR, The Guardian, BBC, and CNN.
In 2020, Thompson-Hernández published The Compton Cowboys: The New Generation of Cowboys in America's Urban Heartland through William Morrow. The book grew out of his New York Times reporting on Black cowboys in Compton during the Black Lives Matter movement, demonstrating his sustained interest in documenting Los Angeles communities that exist outside mainstream narratives.
His commitment to telling underrepresented stories has roots in his childhood. When he was seven years old, Thompson-Hernández camped out on the UCLA campus with his mother, Eleuteria Hernández, who participated in a 1993 hunger strike to save the university's Chicano Studies program. His mother had earned both her bachelor's and master's degrees from UCLA in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Continued Filmmaking Practice
Thompson-Hernández has continued to develop his filmmaking practice beyond If I Go, Will They Miss Me. He directed the 2025 feature film Kites, which centers on a favela drug boss in Rio de Janeiro organizing a kite festival. Another film, Pipas, received a special jury mention at the 2025 Tribeca Film Festival.
A Contemplative Approach to Storytelling
In discussing If I Go, Will They Miss Me, Thompson-Hernández explained his decision to minimize conventional plot in favor of a structure that allows viewers to sit with each moment. The film unfolds like a poem or a novel by Toni Morrison, he noted, giving audiences time to absorb and reflect on what they're seeing rather than rushing them toward narrative resolution.
The film's slow, contemplative rhythm serves its exploration of childhood, absence, and the stories people tell themselves to survive. By weaving together the everyday reality of Watts with the timeless drama of Greek mythology, Thompson-Hernández creates a portrait of resilience and imagination in a community that rarely sees itself reflected on screen with such care and complexity.
