What effect does a father’s affection, parceled out between incarceration stints, have on a son? That’s the question Walter Thompson-Hernández explores in If I Go Will They Miss Me. The writer-director explores how fathers shape their sons, especially when they’re not always around.
“I wanted to portray a story that was more about the complicated nature of flight and a boy’s maturation and love for his father,” Thompson-Hernández told EBONY about the independent feature, which opened nationwide September 18. “Being a child is complicated. So is being a parent. There’s a lot of grey and nuance in both. And I think that’s what I was hoping to show.”
The story follows Lil Ant, a boy on the brink of adolescence. Lil Ant has imagined and idolized his father, Big Ant, as the Greek god Poseidon, while imagining his father’s horse as Pegasus. His drawings often come to life. Living under an LAX flight path, Lil Ant is also fascinated by airplanes, a motif the film underscores throughout.
“Mythology is what we use to answer life’s mysteries. We’ve been doing it for ages. What better way to understand a complicated father than to use mythology to fill in some of the gaps in information that the child in this film has,” Thompson-Hernández stated.
Though the act is innocent, it becomes a source of frustration for his dad. “Lil Ant imagines a version of his father that he hopes his father can live up to. That very thing is also what terrifies his father.”
The feature is based on Thompson-Hernández’s 12-minute short of the same name, which won the Short Film Jury Award for U.S. Fiction at Sundance in 2022. He described it as a proof of concept and dreamed of expanding it into a feature. But securing financing proved challenging.
“There was a rush of support following the pandemic; I think there was a lot of interest in Black stories then,” Thompson-Hernández stated. “It all seemed to change a few years later. I think it’s sometimes hard for Hollywood to see that a family from Watts can also be Greek gods.”
Despite the obstacles, he persevered. He and fellow producers Josh Peters, Saba Zerehi and Ben Stillman took the feature through Sundance’s 2023 Catalyst Forum, a program that connects filmmakers with potential investors. Sundance later awarded the project a $120,000 Filmmakers Fund grant in 2025.
The film’s stars, Danielle Brooks, J. Alphonse Nicholson and Bodhi Dell, were a dream team for the filmmaker. “I am so lucky to have worked with all three of them. They are some of the most talented humans I’ve ever been around,” he shared. Brooks, who headlines the film, and Jon Batiste, who recorded a song for it, are both credited as executive producers.
With a Black father and a Mexican-born mother, Thompson-Hernández feels blessed to celebrate both heritages. “If I could be born again, I’d choose the same body. The same cultures. I have so much love and admiration for both sides of my family.”
A presentation of the film at the Angelika Film Center in New York City had moviegoers in tears as they saw parallels to their own relationships with their fathers. Thompson-Hernández understands the connection and has words of inspiration for them and for young Black boys.
“I hope we can see the god in ourselves. I also hope we can extend more grace and understanding for one another,” he said. “I think we need that more than anything right now.”
If I Go Will They Miss Me is now playing in theaters nationwide.