Paternal Rites is a first-person essay film that weaves together the building of the U.S. Interstate Highway System with the filmmaker’s own attempt to unravel the ways in which sexual abuse, whiteness and masculinity have shaped three generations of men in his family. Approaching “the father” both metaphorically and literally, Paternal Rites is a unique kind of road movie -- one that explores the inheritance of familial and childhood trauma, the imperial violence of white masculinity, and the mythical allure of the road.
