D2E interview with Alan Govenar’s story is a rare combination of true artistic grit and social impact. Spanning forty-five years, Alan has shaped our understanding of American culture as an award-winning filmmaker, extensively published author in both fiction and non-fiction, and a Guggenheim Fellow. His archival photography and numberless exhibitions have shined a spotlight on corners of the country and communities most people never see. From his books now restored in the Criterion Collection to his pioneering work collecting African American photography archives, Alan offers the kind of lived expertise you rarely encounter. His museum and nonprofit work helps drive change and activate communities, making him highly relevant for your audience—including the 12000 documentary filmmakers and history book authors he reaches.
As we enter a pivotal year for Alan, his latest documentary film “Quiet Voices in a Noisy World: the Struggle for Change in Jasper Texas” brings to light the realities of racial violence and community response in Texas. Combined with major photo exhibitions opening this fall, it’s a conversation that carries urgenc latest works 📡 Down in Dallas Town is a startling film about the shifting terrain of public memory sixty years after the murder of John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. Through interviews with people on the street and songs recorded to memorialize JFK in the mid-1960s, the film explores the impact of the assassination on issues in today's world, from lingering conspiracy theories to the proliferation of gun violence, homelessness, and the scourge of K-2. Personal narratives are juxtaposed with the sentiments articulated in blues, gospel, norteño, and calypso recordings to haunting affect. Especially poignant is the account of Mary Ann Moorman, who returns to the assassination site fifty years later and details the making of her Polaroid photograph of the fatal head shot that killed JFK as the motorcade passed through Dealey Plaza. This new resonant film by Alan Govenar confronts ways we come to terms with the past through the power of storytelling, image-making, and a songbook that is largely unknown.
—Alan Govenar, filmmaker