InterGeneration began with my search for home. As a child of an Army officer, I lived in many places in the US and abroad on racially integrated, international military bases. The lifestyle was exciting for a child with a multicultural curiosity, yet I never felt rooted in one place. After 15 years in Boston, I wanted to call the city my home. As an educator and as a mother of a young child in Boston Public Schools, I specifically wanted to engage with and support our city’s youth. I proposed InterGeneration to a Boston summer arts program for inner-city teens. My proposal connected teens with Boston elders to enliven memory and hope with storytelling and animation.

The teens, in turn, played a revelatory role for the elders by attentively listening to their stories. The elders, many of whom were isolated alone in their homes, found momentary connection with young people. Reliving meaningful moments from childhood to the present day, the elders shared their lives with the teens. They told stories of immigration, of vibrant art scenes, of overcoming racial injustices in Boston, of creating community in unexpected places. They encouraged the teens to choose fulfilling careers and to use their voice for change. The elders’ stories ignited the teens’ imaginations, resulting in beautiful stop-motion that moved the elders. The teens’ animations make the elders’ memories relatable, transforming the once solitary act of remembrance into a sharable experience.

The film begins with Robert Peters, the Mashpee Wampanoag poet, painter and retired subway driver from Mattapan. His ancestors witnessed the glacier melt 10,000 years ago, forming Boston Harbor, the islands, and the region’s rivers. The thaw left a fertile ground, and Robert’s ancestors flourished. The Wampanoag myth of Moshup the Giant is a story of the glacier—a baby grew too big for the village and lived in the water off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard. Moshup took care of the people until, one day, he disappeared. Giovanni Depina, a 16-year-old from Roxbury of Cape Verde descent, vividly animates the Moshup myth with rich color and movement.

Much like the glacier, society as we know it is in a liminal place. The natural progression of older generations passing the baton to the next generations is strained during our many global and national crises. Will this cultural shift be destabilizing, or will it provide fertile ground for the next generations to thrive? The strength of our mutual futures hinges upon interdependent, integrated, interactive communities. Boston is my home now and it is the home of the teens in “InterGeneration.” How can the teens make Boston more fully their own and how can the larger community come together to support them?