IF I GO WILL THEY MISS ME

In the Watts neighborhood of South Los Angeles, twelve year old Lil Ant sees the world, and his father, the way all children should: full of myth, wonder, and unwavering belief. As Lil Ant tries to reconnect with his distant father Big Ant following his incarceration, he begins sensing mysterious visions, spectral figures of other boys drifting through his neighborhood, airplanes overhead that feel like a promise of escape, Greek gods pulled from his schoolbooks who somehow explain the men in his life better than words can. What emerges is a story less about answers and more about the grace a child extends to the people he loves, even when love alone can't fix what's broken.

An expansion of Thompson-Hernández's award winning 2022 short of the same name, the film channels elements of surrealism, modern dance, and Greek mythology, drawing clear inspiration from Barry Jenkins, RaMell Ross, Charles Burnett, and Spike Lee while carving out something entirely its own. Anchored by Danielle Brooks and J. Alphonse Nicholson as Lil Ant's parents and newcomer Bodhi Dell in the lead, this is a vibrant, deeply felt portrait of Black boyhood, fatherhood, and the myths we build to survive the people and places we come from. One of the most acclaimed discoveries out of Sundance 2026.

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