The Laughing Man is an intimate and tragicomic portrait of East Texas native and longtime Louisiana resident Thomas Alan Williamson. Though known for his infectious laugh, Thomas has lived a life haunted by tragedy, mental illness, and estrangement. He’d like to visit his dying father back home in Texas, but Thomas faces homelessness, making every day a struggle to survive. A mosaic of slice-of-life encounters, interviews, photographs, first-person confessionals, phone calls, and hand-written journals, the film creates an intimate connection with a remarkable individual who is but one of the many seeking shelter under our freeways and refuge in our hospitals.

Directed by Zack Godshall / Produced by Jillian Godshall & Zack Godshall / Filmed & Edited by Zack Godshall / Featuring Thomas Alan Williamson / Music by Daniel Coolik

Supported by Southern Producers Lab, Louisiana Board of Regents

Selected for Southern Producers Lab, 2020

Premiered at New Orleans Film Festival, 2021