‘The Morgue Twins’ set to premiere on Black Public Media

"The Morgue Twins" premieres on Black Public Media’s (BPM) AfroPoP Digital Shorts series, Monday, Oct. 19. The Harlem-based BPM said on Friday, Oct. 9, that Rebecca Blandón’s film follows retired mortuary technicians and identical twins Marvin and Melvin Morgan as they reflect on two decades of work in New York City’s death-care industry and consider their own mortality.  The film will stream on BPM’s YouTube channel. BPM said that, for more than two decades, the Morgan twins, who were named after a funeral home, worked in close proximity to death.  It said Melvin worked at Elmhurst Hospital, including when it was an epicenter of New York City’s COVID-19 pandemic; Marvin worked at the New York City Medical Examiner’s Office and served after tragedies like the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and the American Airlines Flight 587 crash in Queens later that year.  “As technicians, their duties were exacting and intimate: collecting bodies, assisting with autopsies and caring for the dead. In their spare time, the twins advocated for the living — creating local sports youth leagues, advocating for voter rights, and collaborating with the city council to create a safe and thriving community,” BPM said.  In the film, it said the brothers speak candidly about the toll their work has had on their psyches and how it informs their perspectives on life and death. BPM said Blandón, a Nicaraguan-American documentary filmmaker born and raised in the Bronx, served as director, cinematographer, and editor of the film.  Her independent films, including "Corpus Christi," "Glen Eden," and "Run the Meter," have screened at festivals, been exhibited at museums, and received support from The Bronx Documentary Center, The Jacob Burns Film Center, Rooftop Films, and the New York State Council on the Arts, BPM said.  As a visual journalist, BPM said Blandón has created award-winning work for news organizations including The New York Times, Axios, PBS Frontline and The Boston Globe. “Rebecca’s film is a moving portrait of two brothers who spent more than two decades facing what most of us look away from, meeting death with professionalism, humanity and grace,” said Denise A. Greene, BPM director of programs and curator of AfroPoP Digital Shorts. “The twins’ service is part of an enduring tradition of care in Black communities, where tending to the deceased has long been an act of dignity, service and respect.”  With "The Morgue Twins," BPM said it  continues its commitment to advancing Black stories, despite Congress’s 2025 rescission vote, which defunded public media and eliminated $1.8 million from BPM’s budget.  In response, BPM said it launched the Black Stories Production Fund, supported by a grassroots fundraising campaign.  It said the 1.8 Million Donors campaign seeks to raise $9 million “to help ensure that Black stories are never again left vulnerable to political interference or chronic underinvestment.”