Everyone has a story, but some stories are more fascinating than others. When Dallas-based painter and filmmaker Robert Weiss met mortician Dale Carter at a Galveston Halloween party back in 2010, he knew there had to be an interesting tale behind Carter’s flamboyant style and unconventional profession.
Along with his cousin Aaron, Weiss began to go back and forth to the seaside city to find out what made Carter tick, capturing his subject’s quirky views on life and his daily labors in the embalming laboratory.
Weiss, a graduate of Syracuse University with an MFA in painting, ultimately spent 10 years immersing himself in the world of Carter, capturing everything from his attempts to revitalize a historic Beaumont home to navigating the COVID-19 pandemic to losing most of his treasured oddity collections in a house fire, plot arcs that took the filmmakers by surprise.
“I was terrified we weren’t going to have enough of an interesting story,” says Weiss. “Our protagonist is older, so we weren’t sure a lot of things were going to happen, but the whole film became about a man’s legacy. The biggest overarching thing about Dale is he’s here to help people who are no longer with us.”
Indeed, Song of the Cicada’s star has a relentlessly sunny outlook for someone who works with the deceased. Fascinated with the subject of life and death at an early age, Carter was first intrigued by the lush flowers and organ music at his grandmother’s funeral. He later studied mortuary science, working at UT Southwestern Medical Center before moving to Galveston in 2000.
A self-professed eccentric, Carter is lightning quick with a bon mot and proved open to all of the directors’ suggestions, even dressing up as the dead spirit of his home’s former owner. Through it all, he lends an empathetic approach to his labors, creating, as he says, “a beautiful memory” of those who have passed. Carter even came up with the film’s title, a phrase he chose for its Southern Gothic vibe, as well as the cicada’s role as a symbol of rebirth.
“We’re all reborn one way or another,” he muses. “So come with me, and we’ll go someplace beautiful, fun and exciting — even if it is in a hearse!”
Initially released in 2022, Cicada did well on the festival circuit, picking up the audience award at the Austin Film Festival and “best of” trophies at the Atlanta Docufest, Burbank International Film Festival, Lone Star Film Festival, London Independent Film Festival and the Toronto Documentary Feature and Short Film Festival.
Yet, to date, the documentary had no official premiere in Dallas. On March 21, it will finally screen in Weiss’ hometown at the Texas Theatre. The director hopes each viewing might get the doc closer to being picked up by a streamer like Netflix or Amazon, but in the meantime, he’s thrilled people are becoming better acquainted with his leading man.
Says Weiss of the film, “It was a labor of love that turned into something bigger than expected. I’d like to make a hundred or so short reels [and make Dale] into a viral sensation. Dale’s a one-of-a-kind; I’ve never met anybody like him.”
Details
Song of the Cicada will screen at 8 p.m. on March 21 at the Texas Theatre, 231 Jefferson Blvd. $12. A filmmaker Q&A with Carter will follow.
