Strange Truth 2024
Strange Truth 2024 explores the non-fiction imagination in films by Sam Green, Alison O’Daniel, and Ludovic Bonleux.
All events held at Bryn Mawr Film Institute. Each will be followed by conversations with artists and filmmakers.
Organized by Visual Studies and VCAM Director John Muse, Spanish faculty and Chair Aurelia Gómez De Unamuno, Visual Studies and English faculty Matt O’Hare, and English faculty and HCAH Director Gustavus Stadler.
Made possible by the John B. Hurford ’60 Center for the Arts and Humanities’ Sonic Worlds initiative; the Hillman Moving Images Endowed Fund; VCAM; CRAFT; Bryn Mawr Film Institute; the Department of Spanish; the Distinguished Visitors Program, and the Visual Studies Program at Haverford College.
Admission Details
All events are open to the public.
Screenings are free for all Tri-Co students, staff, and faculty.
Members of the Tri-Co community who wish to reserve their tickets in advance should contact jweissin [at] haverford.edu for this year’s promo-code. Walk-up attendees can show a Tri-Co school ID at the box office to get a free ticket.
Transportation
Blue Bus transportation provided on March 27 from Stokes Hall (Haverford) to the Bryn Mawr Film Institute (BMFI), departing Haverford at 7:30 p.m. and leaving BMFI for Stokes at 10:30 p.m. Bus transportation to and from the same locations on April 3 and April 10, but departing Haverford at 6:30 p.m. and leaving BMFI at 9:30 p.m.
Contact: hcah [at] haverford.edu
Schedule of Events
32 Sounds
2022, 1h 35min
Directed by Sam Green
Wednesday, March 27, 2024
8:00 p.m.
Bryn Mawr Film Institute
Discussion with director Sam Green and Haverford faculty John Muse to follow.
Live Narration by Sam Green. This version plays in regular movie theaters, but each member of the audience is given their own set of headphones for a special immersive binaural audio experience.
An immersive documentary and profound sensory experience from filmmaker Sam Green that explores the elemental phenomenon of sound. The film is a meditation on the power of sound to bend time, cross borders, and profoundly shape our perception of the world around us.
... one of the most blissful moviegoing experiences I’ve ever had… playful and profound… It’s the greatest documentary you’ve ever heard.
Rolling Stone — “32 Sounds Is the Greatest Documentary You’ve Ever Heard” By David Fear
Bursting with humor, emotion and curiosity, 32 Sounds is a uniquely mind-expanding plunge into a dimension of the human experience so many of us take for granted, a rare and rewarding sonic journey with the potential to enrich our lives.
Variety — “32 Sounds Review: Sam Green Crafts a Documentary the Likes of Which You’ve Never Heard Before” By Peter Debruge
Supported by the Hillmann Moving Images Endowed Fund.
Cinematography by Derek Howard, Meena Singh, Judy Phu
The Tuba Thieves
2023, 1h 32m
Written and Directed by Alison O’Daniel
Wednesday, April 3, 2024
7:00 p.m.
Bryn Mawr Film Institute
Discussion with writer and director Alison O’Daniel in conversation with Warren “Wawa” Snipe, who plays Arcey, father of protagonist Nyke (Nyeisha Prince) to follow, moderated by Haverford faculty Kristin Lindgren.
This film will be shown with open captions. American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation will be provided at this event. Audio description is available for this screening upon request.
Between 2011 and 2013, tubas were stolen from high schools across Southern California. While reporters focused on the thieves, Director Alison O'Daniel, who is hard of hearing, was curious about the impact on the students and school communities. She wondered how these thefts were altering the sound of the bands, which ultimately led her to question the role of sound itself and what it means to listen. In The Tuba Thieves, O'Daniel explores the question of sound, prioritizing a hard-of-hearing form of storytelling in which information collides and is allowed to be misunderstood. In prioritizing Deaf and hard of hearing communication, she generates new sensitivity to sound and meaning.
The Tuba Thieves follows the stories of Nyke Prince, a Deaf woman who is given a drum kit; Geovanny Maroquin, a high school saxophone player impacted by the tuba thefts; and Sam Quinones, an L.A. Times reporter seeking answers. Various Los Angeles musicians are also highlighted, performing in Deaf spaces and presenting concerts frequently (mis)interpreted as silent.
Toshkua
2023, 1h 20m
Directed by Ludovic Bonleux
Wednesday, April 10, 2024
7:00 p.m.
Bryn Mawr Film Institute
Discussion with director Ludovic Bonleux and Haverford faculty Aurelia Gómez De Unamuno to follow.
Mary travels from Honduras to the US border looking for her son, a migrant kidnapped in Mexico. During her journey, she meets other mothers that are looking for their sons and she understands the magnitude of the disappearance crisis in the region. Francisco, the dean of the Pesh community, is confronted to the extinction of the tropical forest, the migration of his sons and the vanishing of his own language. He begins a journey to the heart of the jungle in order to find a cure to such changes. “Toshkua,” a word that means “to disappear” in the Pesh language of Honduras, tells the story of those who struggle against disappearance, from Central America to the US.
Mary viaja desde Honduras hasta Estados Unidos en busca de su hijo, un migrante secuestrado en México. Durante su travesía, se une a otras madres que buscan a sus hijos a lo largo del país y entiende la magnitud de la crisis de desapariciones en la zona. Francisco, el decano de la etnia pesh, se enfrenta a la destrucción de la selva de la Mosquitia, a la emigración de sus hijos y a la desaparición de su propio idioma. Él emprende un viaje hacia el corazón de la selva para entender las razones de estos cambios. “Toshkua,” una palabra que significa “desaparecer” en el idioma pesh de Honduras, cuenta la historia de las y los que luchan contra la desaparición, desde América Central hasta Estados Unidos.
Artists & Presenters
Ludovic Bonleux
Ludovic Bonleux has directed five documentaries about violence and politics in Mexico. Guerrero (2017) was shown and awarded in various festivals all over the world and received the Diosa de Plata for best documentary from the Association of Mexican cinema critics (PECIME). His short documentary Why kill them? (2018) has been selected to Morelia and Toulouse Film festivals, among others. Ludovic is a grantee from the Sistema Nacional de Creadores de Arte FONCA 2019-2022 (Mexico) and the SUNDANCE Institute (USA). He was also part of BERLINALE Talent 2018 (Germany).
Ludovic Bonleux ha escrito y realizado cinco documentales sobre violencia y política en México. Su película Guerrero (2017) fue seleccionada y premiada en numerosos festivales mexicanos e internacionales y fue galardonada con la Diosa de Plata a mejor documental por la asociación de periodistas cinematográficos de México (PECIME). Su corto documental ¿Por qué los matas? (2018) ha sido seleccionado para los festivales de Morelia y Toulouse entre otros. Ludovic es becario del Sistema Nacional de Creadores de Arte del FONCA (México) y del instituto SUNDANCE (EEUU). Ha sido parte de BERLINALE Talents 2018 (Alemania) y ha cursado la licencia en Historia en la Universidad de Bordeaux.
Kat Galasso
Sam Green
Sam Green is a New York-based documentary filmmaker. Green’s most recent live documentaries include A Thousand Thoughts (with the Kronos Quartet) (2018), The Measure of All Things (2014), The Love Song of R. Buckminster Fuller (with Yo La Tengo) (2012), and Utopia in Four Movements (2010). With all of these works, Green narrates the film in-person while musicians perform a live soundtrack. Green’s 2004 feature-length film, The Weather Underground, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, was nominated for an Academy Award, was included in the Whitney Biennial, and has screened widely around the world.
Patrick Montero
Kristin Lindgren
Kristin Lindgren directs the Writing Center and teaches courses in literature, writing, and disability studies at Haverford College. She and her students collaborate every year with artists at the Center for Creative Works. She is co-editor of two books on Deaf culture, Signs and Voices and Access (Gallaudet University Press),and author of numerous articles and essays on illness and disability. Her work appears in collections including Gendering Disability, Illness in the Academy, Disability and the Teaching of Writing, Disability and Mothering, Transforming the Academy, and A Cultural History of Disability. She enjoys convening events and exhibitions that bring together scholars, artists, curators, and activists. Kristin has been involved for many years with Let’s Circle Up, a restorative justice project founded by men incarcerated at SCI-Phoenix. She envisions teaching and learning as creative, multimodal, lifelong practices that can help us to build a more inclusive world.
Caitlin Denis
Alison O’Daniel
Alison O'Daniel is a filmmaker and visual artist. She has screened and exhibited in galleries and museums internationally, including Kunsthalle Osnabrück, Osnabrück, Germany; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow; Centre Pompidou, Paris, FR; Centro Centro, Madrid, Spain; Renaissance Society, Chicago; Art in General, New York; Centre d’art Contemporain Passerelle, Brest, France; Tallinn Art Hall, Estonia. O’Daniel is a United States Artist 2022 Disability Futures Fellow and a 2022 Guggenheim Fellow and has received grants from Ford Foundation; Sundance; Creative Capital; Field of Vision; ITVS; Chicken & Egg; SFFILM; Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation; Rema Hort Mann Foundation; Center for Cultural Innovation. She has attended residencies at the Wexner Center Film/Video Studio Program; Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown; and Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. She was included in Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film and writing on O’Daniel’s work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine; Artforum; Los Angeles Times; BOMB; ArtReview. She is represented by Commonwealth and Council in Los Angeles and is an Assistant Professor of Film at California College of the Arts in San Francisco.
Roy Cox Studios
Warren “Wawa” Snipe
Warren “Wawa” Snipe, an acclaimed Hip Hop recording artist hailing from the DC/MD/VA area, has been making music with an insatiable drive since he first picked up the mic in 2005. His charismatic and diligent persona and genre, "Dip Hop" (Hip Hop through deaf eyes), has garnered critical reception and positive acclaim over the past 15+ years. This unique sound of audio and imagery has helped WAWA develop a growing fanbase and has landed him many opportunities on stage, in the studio, and within the music industry.
Organizers
Aurelia Gómez De Unamuno
Aurelia Gómez De Unamuno received her Ph.D. and M.A. at the University of Pittsburgh, and Licenciatura in Hispanic Languages and Literatures at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Her research focuses on cultural and literary productions related to social movements, in particular, the Student Movement of 1968 and the 1970's Guerrilla Warfare in Mexico; as well as Memory and State violence in Latin America. Her current work addresses ongoing debates in Mexico about memory and state violence, analyzing literary and testimonial texts written by former guerrilla fighters. New projects will focus on enforced disappearance and impunity in Mexico as well as the participation of women in the armed struggle in Latin America.
John Muse
John Muse writes criticism, teaches visual studies at Haverford College, and makes experimental films, multi-channel installation works, collages, and paintings. Muse is currently an Assistant Professor of Visual Studies at Haverford College where he also directs VCAM (the Visual Culture, Arts, and Media facility) and the Visual Studies Program. Muse has written critical essays about the work of Markus Baenziger, Roland Barthes, Suzanne Bocanegra, Victor Burgin, Nomi Talisman & Dee Hibbert-Jones, Amy Hicks, Roni Horn, Mary Lydon, Yoonmi Nam, Avital Ronell, Dread Scott, Lee Walton, and others. His films are distributed by the Video Data Bank; his writings can be found at academic.edu.
Matt O’Hare
Matt O'Hare, Ph.D. is an interdisciplinary artist and educator whose research and creative practice focus on human-computer interaction, creativity, and the critical study of new media technologies. With a background in the performing arts and creative coding, his work foregrounds the development of interactive systems to support improvisation, collaboration, and meaningful exchange among human performers and digital environments.
Gus Stadler
Gustavus Stadler is William R. Kenan Professor of English and Director of the Hurford Center for the Arts and Humanities at Haverford College. His writing and research are concerned with the cultural history of the U. S. left.