''Roam Sweet Home'' is a 1996 American

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

directed by

Ellen Spiro Ellen Spiro is an American documentary filmmaker. She was a producer and director of a television documentary '' Are the kids alright?'', which won an Emmy Award in 2005. She is a professor emerita of the University of Texas at Austin, where s ...

. In road-trip style, it follows the lives of retirees who live on the road full-time in trailers, due to economic necessity, pleasure, or bot.

Premise

Filmmaker Spiro and her dog, Sam, join a community of American nomads in order to explore their unconventional lifestyle first hand. Through Spiro's innovative and interpersonal style of filmmaking she captures the spirit of the roamers and the wide variety of reasons they abandoned the more traditional means of retirement. One group of women discusses the thrill of independence and sheer freedom they discovered after escaping repressive relationships. Another expounds upon the pleasures of traveling unencumbered throughout the country. The film is narrated by Spiro's dog, Sam, with the voice provided by

Allan Gurganus Allan may refer to: People * Allan (name), a given name and surname, including list of people and characters with this name * Allan (footballer, born 1984) (Allan Barreto da Silva), Brazilian football striker * Allan (footballer, born 1989) (A ...

, who shares his perspective on the whims and follies of human nature. Aging himself, Sam adds an emotional perspective through his musings on death and the journey through life.

Awards

* Grand Prize at the Big Muddy Film Festival * National Media Owl award presented by Gene Siskel for the Retirement Research Foundation

References

*Johnson, Jerry.
Roam Sweet Home.
Austin Chronicle. 1997-11-7. Retrieved on 2007-6-12. *McDonald, Scott.
The Garden in the Machine: A Field Guide to Independent Films About Place.
University of California Press. Berkeley and Los Angeles California. 2001. Retrieved on 2007-6-25.

Independent Television Service. 1997-5-28. Retrieved on 2007-6-12.

1997-5-28. Retrieved on 2007-6-12.

External links

Official Website * 1996 films American documentary films Documentary films about old age Films directed by Ellen Spiro Documentary films about road transport 1990s English-language films 1990s American films {{bio-documentary-film-stub