Home Soon Come is a sun-warmed portrait of an elderly community who meet at the African-Caribbean Care Group (ACCG) in South Manchester.
The film interweaves interviews with community members and their families with archival moving images from a 1926 travelogue, Christmas Around the Caribbean Sea. Through these conversations and archival footage, the film reflects on diasporic journeys and the ways memory is embedded in personal possessions and the decorative details of the home.
The film’s gentle pace creates a sense of slowness that allows the viewer to rest within the experience. Via personal accounts and the gentle clink of dominoes, we witness the comfort and encouragement this community has fostered, allowing its members to thrive.
In the film, second and third generation descendants leaf through family photo albums, revisiting images of their parents and grandparents in the early years of building a life in Britain. Commentary on the lack of central heating in their first British homes, the blisters on their hands from hard manual work, and the grief of leaving home while trying to build a new life elsewhere lay bare the sacrifices these individuals made.
Development support from HOME, Manchester and La Junqueira Residency, Lisbon.
Hope Pearl Strickland’s work has screened internationally at film festivals including the 59th New York Film Festival, BFI London Film Festival, International Film Festival Rotterdam and Berwick Film and Media Arts Festival (New Cinema Awards). Their work has been commissioned by organisations across the UK including FACT, Liverpool, Touchstones Gallery, Rochdale and Film and Video Umbrella. Hope was awarded the Aesthetica Emerging Art Prize in 2023 and was shortlisted for the 2025 Jarman Award.