Courtney Stephens’ and Callie Hernández’s film Invention blends the actual passing of both of their late fathers, with Stephens’ first foray into nonfiction. Drawing from found footage (a kind of motif of Courtney Stephens), inter-spliced throughout the narrative, Invention combines real biographies in a pensive and honest storyline.

Shot at times in the Berkshires, and Troy, New York, according to a Q&A after the film, the film had a small budget and was brought together rather on a whim after the two collaborators met and bonded on the experience of losing a father.

Invention brings together both Super 16mm footage and actual footage of Hernandez’ late father, a medical doctor who was briefly a Jehovah’s Witness and an inventor. In VHS clips, he shows slideshows and infomercial-style presentations that are at times endearing, at others, pointedly funny.

After meeting the executor of her father’s will, Carrie discovers that she will be inheriting a mysterious healing device. Soon, she goes on to meet past friends, a former business partner, and a mentee of her father’s. In one scene, Carrie meets a Christian employee at the manufacturing workshop that made the invention, where she is made to kneel for a very long in prayer with him (excellent scene).

Overall, an engaging and inventive drama that explores very American themes like capitalism and the idea economy, religion and loss, and how well you can know someone. And it does so with dashes of humor and honesty. We’ll be looking forward to what both Stephens and Hernández create next.