Nostalgia Interviews With Chris Deacy

My guest this week is Michael Hession, an American lawyer and documentary maker who has recently completed a film about Revd. Brian Hession (no relation) – a cancer patient who fought in the 1940s and 50s against the stigma of illness and who had also been a filmmaker (and whose work I cover in my own Religion and Film teaching and research). Michael tells us how his study of Brian Hession reignited his interest in film noir and we talk in turn about the value of ambiguous endings.  We learn why Michael doesn’t consider himself to be a nostalgic person per se, and why, for him, nostalgia comprises ‘history plus emotion’. We find out why Michael isn’t nostalgic for the times he lived in but yearns to go back to previous ages. We find out which ones. Michael was born in a suburb of Washington DC, went to law school and practiced in New York before moving to California. In this very candid interview he tells us why he went into the law and discusses whether he is likely to return to it. We talk about why 2