ALL ARTS Docs

Slow Down: River to River
Filmmaker Liz Sargent was commissioned by ALL ARTS to create an experimental short film reflecting themes of this year’s River To River Festival: deceleration, reflection, and stillness as an antidote to our rushed contemporary reality. The River To River Festival is presented annually by Lower Manhattan Cultural Council in Downtown New York City.
TRANSCRIPT
(vortex closing)
(waves crashing onto shore)
(upbeat instrumental music)
(birds chirping) (construction noises)
(water splashing)
(upbeat instrumental music)
- I walk a lot in New York.
It's where I find my inspiration, where ideas come.
In New York maybe more than anywhere else,
we are constantly walking around quite breathless.
We take pride in doing a lot
in the fastest amount of time we can possibly do it
and that's how we're being valued
and that part is, choose to continue to work in that
very complex difficult environment is a daily inspiration.
(city noises)
(upbeat instrumental music)
(city noises)
- [Female Voice] People just roam around the city
and then you wonder.
It's like you see everybody and you go
I wonder about that person's life.
- I'm trying to learn about listening.
Who is the most important or the best listener in your life?
- Probably my lady.
She listens to all my... everything that I have to say.
- [Female Voice] To understand art,
you have to understand people.
That's what I got in the essence of it.
- [2nd Female] I'm like more of a talker than a listener
and I need to learn how to be a better listener.
So he asked me, well who are the good listeners in your life
and I immediately came to my ex husband.
- [Man In Gray Jacket] Cause I'm one of those people,
I'm starting to feel like,
I listen to respond instead of listening to understand.
(people talking over each other)
(instrumental music) (heavy panting)
(atmospheric instrumental music)
(city noises)
- We have a sense of these rushed lives most of us live.
The minute for me when I let myself take that moment,
it's so incredibly rewarding
and how do we create an environment that rewards that
as much as our productivity.
How do we slow down the neighborhood, the city.
How do we create environments where people can
come together, reflect, start imagining.
These are invitations just to be in that moment,
in that poetics of that moment.
(instrumental music)
(birds chirping)
(upbeat instrumental music)
(city noises)
(balloons rubbing against each other)
(taxi horns)
(balloons rubbing against each other)
(city noises)
(car horns)
(upbeat instrumental music)
(waves crashing onto shore)
(water splashing)
(upbeat instrumental music)
(birds chirping)
(city noises) (upbeat instrumental music)
(rain hitting ground) (thunder roaring)
(water splashing)
(water leaking onto ground)
(water splashes)
(city noises) (upbeat instrumental music)
(kids playing)
- When an experience is successful,
as an audience, you feel that
you have witnessed something quite unique
and you're living with that experience within you.
An arts festival can share this intimate context
in which people can just be and listen
and continue to open up to sounds of possibility
for themselves or what they're dealing with at that moment.
(city noises) (kids joyfully playing)
- [Subway Announcer] The next and last stop
is Brooklyn Bridge, City Hall.
(balloons rubbing against each other)
(train horn)
More Episodes (6)
-
Slow Down: River to River (Greek Captions)May 19, 2020
-
StudioEIS: Sculpting a Colonial SoldierFebruary 13, 2020
-
Mort Kunstler: Making the Strongest ImageOctober 28, 2019
-
Rescue Recovery & Healing:The 9/11 Memorial Glade DedicationSeptember 11, 2019
-
Slow Down: River to RiverAugust 07, 2019
-
Southampton Arts CenterJune 26, 2019