In 'If I Go Will They Miss Me,' a Family Seeks Healing Under the LAX Flight Path
The film explores how one family and neighboring residents cope with grief and daily jet noise, with 3,000 planes crossing overhead each day, filmmakers said.
- On Friday, filmmaker Walter Thompson-Hern released "If I Go Will They Miss Me," starring Oscar nominee Danielle Brooks, which follows a family seeking connection in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles.
- The film draws inspiration from a 2020 incident when Delta Air Lines dumped 15,000 gallons of fuel over Cudahy. Teachers at Park Avenue Elementary School sued the airline, leading to a $79 million settlement.
- Thompson-Hern describes the film as a "love letter to Los Angeles," using Greek mythology and recurring plane imagery to explore family dynamics. He aims to offer audiences a chance to explore "hope and healing."
- Brooks, who earned an Oscar nomination for her role in "The Color Purple," called working on Thompson-Hern's film a "breath of fresh air." She hopes the project helps audiences "see yourself."
- Previously a journalist for The New York Times and author of "The Compton Cowboys," Thompson-Hern seeks to document multifaceted communities. His work aims to explore what it looks like to create a future that includes hope and healing.
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The Seattle TimesIn ‘If I Go Will They Miss Me,’ a family seeks healing under the LAX flight path
Writer-director Walter Thompson-Hernández's feature film "If I Go Will They Miss Me" explores connection and healing under the LAX flight path. Starring Oscar nominee Danielle Brooks and released in U.S. theaters Friday, it tells a story of a family in Watts searching for connection. It's an expansion of Thompson-Hernández’s Sundance award-winning short film, which was inspired by a 2020 incident where a jet dumped fuel over an elementary school…
In ‘If I Go Will They Miss Me,’ a family seeks healing under the LAX flight path – WTOP News
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Six years ago, jet fuel was dumped from the sky onto a working-class city near Los Angeles International Airport, spattering onto children at an elementary school. For writer and director Walter Thompson-Hernández, who grew up nearby, the incident sparked a coming-of-age story that grapples with the contradictions of life under the...
In 'If I Go Will They Miss Me,' a family seeks healing under
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Six years ago, jet fuel was dumped from the sky onto a working-class city near Los Angeles International Airport, spattering onto children at an elementary school. For writer and director Walter Thompson-Hernández, who
If I Go Will They Miss Me Reviewing: Finding Poetic Beauty in Coming of Age
Note: This review was originally published as part of our 2026 Sundance coverage. The film opens in theaters on September 18. Finding poetic beauty in the quotidian, Walter Thompson-Hernández’s If I Go Will They Miss Me centers on coming of age in housing projects of southern Los Angeles. It’s a way of life often depicted […] The post If I Go Will They Miss Me Reviewing: Finding Poetic Beauty in Coming of Age first appeared on The Film Stage.
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