Raul Orlando Perez lives deep in the mountains of Patagonia. He crafted his first instrument in 1962. He thinks of his work as a sort of re-creation, a form of alchemy, transforming natural materials into living, breathing instruments. A well-crafted instrument is not only defined by the age, treatment and construction of its materials, but it also continues to grow and adapt with use. In 2009, I brought him a door salvaged from my family home lost to fire. He transformed it into a beautiful handcrafted flamenco guitar.

Luthier

A study of three similar but distinct microcultures: the Manhattan Bridge, Brooklyn Bridge, and Williamsburg Bridge. Interrogated through the use of contact microphones, the physical infrastructures of these bridges become audible and reveal their inherent macroacoustics. The film treats the bridge as an anthropological body for discourse, as a physiology of limbs, organs, eyes, and ears moving in time.

Bridge

Real West is an ethnographic portrait of two roadside ghost towns in South Dakota. It is also the tale of two elderly proprietors who devotedly maintain these sites. The film uses contact microphones and super-8mm film as archaeological tools to uncover the material traces of this living history. Kevin T. Allen is a filmmaker and sound artist who has exhibited at numerous venues, including MoMA, Margaret Mead Film Festival, Ann Arbor Film Festival, Berlin Directors Lounge, Ethnographic Terminalia, and Deep Wireless Festival of Radio Art. Recent research has lead him to find culture not exclusively in human forms, but also inherent in physical landscapes and material objects. He teaches documentary practice at The New School and is funded through the Jerome Foundation.