Can a human being really live for 134 years, as locals of a small town in upstate New York maintain about a notable citizen, the filmmaker’s ancestor Henry Francisco? This story traces the borders of certainty through a legend rooted in nationalism, the quest for longevity and belief in the hereafter.

Framed as a genealogical quest, Old Henry’s Bones is a work of popular historiography, mapping a topography of nostalgia and conviction in rural America.