Bring it all Back Home and the New Golden Age of Filmmaking

The moral case for embracing the present moment.

Jan 03, 2025

Bring it all Back Home starring Sebastian Pigott, Joe Dinicol, Rachel Alig, and Rupinder Nagra. Click here to get it when it comes out.

Author’s Note: This is a new thing that’s happening. We’re publishing a guest piece prior to the release of the film. Be sure to check it out on January 7th.

“The only safe thing is to take a chance.” - Elaine May

For some people, the past is glorious. It’s the days of their youth that were bright with possibility – all the things they wanted to do and still would – while the present is a murky reality of all they wanted to do but still haven’t and probably won’t. The state of independent filmmaking has recently reached that crucial stage where it is now capable of achieving all those fabulous things it dreamed of doing in its youth. The world (at least the film-nerd section) is waiting to see if it will, in fact, harness the courage and determination required to do all those glorious things. I believe the upcoming indie feature Bring it all Back Home is proof that it will.

Written and directed by Sebastian Pigott, Bring it all Back Home is a story of people who find themselves at a similar sort of crossroads as filmmaking itself. Will they continue grasping at the perceived glory of the past, or will they face the present with all its complexity, uncertainty, and real potential?

Eddie Backus (played by Pigott), the film’s protagonist, was once the hero of his small town before becoming a pro-baseball player. His peak moment was hitting a homerun in Yankee Stadium and having it broadcast on national television. After a serious knee injury and disappearing for five years, Eddie shows up in his hometown to “save his friends from the malaise of middle age”. Essentially, he’s returned to grab his past glory by the collar and drag it into his present.

But the thing about the past is, though it hovers around humming in our ears, it is impossible to fully grab. You can let its humming guide you, however, if you listen and pay attention.

As 2024 comes to an end, the present we need to face is that Hollywood, as it was, is over. The major studios have been bought up by massive conglomerate corporations that don’t know or care about film, and because of that the industry is crumbling. For many, this is a truth they’ll be in denial of for a while yet, rendering them unable to adapt to the quickly changing present moment. But, for those who are paying attention, right now is the new Golden Age of Independent Filmmaking.

Bring it all Back Home was made just as this new present was beginning to glow on the horizon. In fact, two years prior, this film simply wouldn’t have been possible to make – the technology was not advanced or accessible enough for independent filmmakers at this budget level. It is truly a film of this moment in history. And while it strives to carry on the torch of 1970s indie film mavericks like John Cassavetes and Elaine May, it runs unflinchingly into the uncertain and complex present moment with all its bursting possibility.

In his final monologue, Eddie admits that he “wishes he’d really paid attention” – he hadn’t recognized the glory of his present until it was gone, had become the past. Indie filmmakers who make the choice to really pay attention to this moment, will be rewarded with all of the glory of the future.

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