a Nourishing Documentary Event for Strange Times
Still image from German Soul, a live documentary experience. To register for tickets, go here.
These strange times call for bold storytelling and bold action, that much seems certain. On Friday, there is a chance to get an early look at an innovative documentary project (project page is here on the production team website), one that breaks away from the current trends to bring people together for unique, live events. Register for tickets here.
There’s no doubt the world is changing fast here in America. You can start to feel it in the air and hear it in people’s voices, in the way people speak quietly in low, hushed tones.
Artificial intelligence, tariffs, deportations, US citizens, strange words all blend to make a kind of world salad that leaves our minds to piece together a society led by humans guided by avarice (the extent to which some people’s decisions are guided by greed constantly amazes me… though maybe that has always been the case?) and by petty vengeance. The disorientation of it all is numbing to the critical thinker (the advancement of artificial intelligence and the quickly narrowing space between what humans and machines can do no doubt adds considerable to this disorientation). I’m reminded of the opening stanza of the “the Second Coming” by WB Yeats,
“Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.”
The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity. That rings true more and more often these days. One moment stands out: I was at a wedding this weekend in Beaufort, North Carolina, a beautiful weekend filled with happy people to celebrate the love between a poet and a businesswoman. Two great people with close friends stood kissing each other to a cheering crowd against whitewashed walls in a deepening sun. People swayed gently in the breeze with wine and Tacos. Nearby children laughed. It all felt like an old movie, the kind they don’t make any more.
But it was a conversation that I overheard that caught my attention. Two friends, a marketing manager for a female-led startup and a therapist, spoke quietly to each other nearby. They were sharing some of their concerns with how public-facing each of their roles were. They shared stories of how they are changing the marketing language they use out of fear of being doxxed. They had removed reference to DEI, to diversity, to trans rights, etc. to avoid ending up on a list of some of the right-wing groups threatening those who express their first amendment rights.
It was a powerful image. There in Beaufort, fear was setting in.
Words are getting more dangerous, more important. They carry more weight. How far will this go? It’s unclear. But what is exceedingly clear to me is that the war for the future of our society will be fought in the media (a media being ruled by algorithms). The stories we engage with, the stories we support, the stories that move us will define our future.
And so, it is with this in mind, that I call you to a documentary event happening Friday night at the Banjos and Biscuits festival. Justin Robinson from the Carolina Chocolate Drops and Durham Filmmaker D.L. Anderson are hosting an event that is truly worth going to. They are launching a new documentary project called German Soul that I promise you do not want to miss.
The work will bring audiences together to live events all across the south to hear from, share stories about, and engage with Justin’s research on the surprising history of soul food and the implications for this on a personal and societal level. It’s not really about food as much as it is about the ways culture is passed down from people before us, the ways narratives are spun to empower the powerful, and the ways in which politics is made personal.
This is the kind of media we need in a time that leaves us without conviction. And it is the kind of media worth supporting.
The event is free. The filmmakers will be fundraising for future events. If you, or a friend, are able, come ready to be moved to help support this worthwhile project.
See you Friday.
-David