Alston screens 'Family Name," explores southern family identity
Homosexuality, racism, religion, murder -- it seems as if Macky Alston has never found a touchy subject he didn't like. After attending the screening and discussion of his award-winning documentary "Family Name" (1997) at the Tucker Foundation, however, it becomes clear that Alston's subject matter is chosen precisely for the discomfort it evokes. In "Family Name," Alston returns home to the deep south from New York City to examine a quandary that has haunted him since his youth -- the relationship between black and white Alstons in the area. "Is something a secret if everyone knows it but nobody talks about it?" Alton asks in the film. Clearly racism was a source of unease in his hometown of Durham, N.C., and Alston was completely aware of the stigma associated with this topic. "I think the fascinating thing is that those things that we have never talked about, those things that we are taught not to talk about, breed a lot of fear," Alston wrote on the documentary's website. Winner of the 1997 Sundance Freedom of Expression Award, "Family Name" is certainly more a dark horse than a flashy fan favorite.
