Around 60 people arrived at the Film Row Cinema on Monday, Feb. 24 to join director and producer Catherine Gund on Monday, Feb. 24 for a screening of “Meanwhile,” a documentary that showcases different creatives and how they use their outlet to reflect on resistance, resilience and race.
“I feel like this is actually the prime audience,” Gund said in reference to sharing the 2024 film with Columbia. “I have four children all in their 20s, and that is the curious community of people potentially who are imagining something better and not disillusioned. I don’t think everyone my age is.”
The film from Aubin Pictures, which Gund founded in 1996, offered a range of powerful themes and captivating visuals.
The “docu-poem” captures everyday life following several story lines of different lifestyles, from people creating art and painting their mothers nails to making music or looking through old photo albums. Each and every clip embodies the “meanwhile,” or rather they showcase daily life and happenings. These clips happened in the meanwhile as six verses of poems are woven together and read alongside the clips.
The addition of poetry being read throughout the course of the film helps guide the viewer as well as give them something to think about while watching the clips go on. Rather than having a story narrative, Gund hoped to invoke questions from viewers in order to start a conversation about topics that were alluded to in the documentary.
For example, the film includes clips from several riots, protests and other current events at the time of filming.
While traditionally documentaries often set out to follow a certain story line, Gund wanted “Meanwhile” to be the opposite, adding that she didn’t want viewers to get too connected to any one interviewee and wonder what happens to them.
“Always in my documentary work for 40 years, I’ve wanted there to be engagement and impact that extended well beyond the viewing and also extended beyond education,” Gund explained.
Rather than invoking radical change from the documentary, Gund hoped to encourage others to listen and be willing to “open in order to get anywhere.”
For Wyatt Menci, a senior comedy major, he found the documentary to be warm as much of the dialogue felt positive with a focus on collectiveness.
Similarly, junior film and television major Annie Kleven found the film to be layered, a word Gund used to describe it during the Q&A portion following the screening.
“I thought it was very apt, because there was a lot of different parts of it that overlapped and a lot of visual metaphors that recurred throughout the film,” Kleven said. “I feel like it touched on a lot of topics that all related to each other, like art, community and unity.”
Similarly to one of the panelists during the Q&A, Menci enjoyed how documentaries addressed issues in a “passive way,” which is something he hasn’t seen in many documentaries. Kleven expressed similar thoughts as well.
“I really like how the film wasn’t trying to say anything particular, instead it was just showing you all these people and the work that they do,” Kleven said. “You learn so much about them just through seeing that and you end up going away from that with a distinct feeling, but yet the film isn’t pushing any message in your face.”
Though the film did not explicitly discuss specific issues, Gund had hoped that everyone would take something different from it.
For junior film major Michael Rispoili, the film was relatable. Specifically, a scene where a woman was on an oxygen tank living life, much like his grandma, who despite the oxygen tank, she wasn’t limited in the things she did. He also enjoyed the scene of the daughter painting her mothers nails.
“It really showed how much they appreciated them without just saying ‘they really mean a lot to me,’ you could just tell through how they were interacting,” Rispoili said.
During the Q&A after the screening, several members of the audience asked various questions about the making of the film, while others offered words of praise on how the documentary was crafted.
Despite the film, Gund doesn’t think we will get to a place where all people are treated equally and fair, but the discussion is still important. While this film does not mention incarceration, some of Gund’s other works involve the movement to end mass incarceration, like in her film “Paint Me a Road Out of Here.”
“I don’t think there’s anyone who isn’t special, who doesn’t have a contribution to make, who doesn’t have a reason,” Gund said during the Q&A. “Some people in the film are more well-known than others, they’re all my friends and they all have incredible thoughts and productions and ways of expressing themselves. I think that’s true of everyone that’s behind bars and I think that’s true of everyone, regardless of what they’re told in society is their value.”
Copy edited by Matt Brady
Resumen en Español:
El lunes, 24 de febrero, alrededor de 60 personas se reunieron para el estreno de la docu-poema “Meanwhile”, por Catherine Gund, la directora y productora. El docu-poema se trata de las diferentes formas en que los creativos expresan la resistencia, resiliencia y raza por sus medios creativos. Después de la proyección, hubo una sesión de preguntas y respuestas, donde los estudiantes le preguntaron a Gund sobre el proceso de creación de la docu-poema. Los estudiantes que asistieron resonaron con el docu-poema, y lo encontraron auténtico, ya que mostró los diferentes procesos de los artistas, en lugar de un estilo típico de documentales que se enfoca en una narrativa singular.
Resumen por Sofía Oyarzún
Copia editada por Manuel Nocera