Catalina Alvarez presents a documentary as unconventional as the town and inhabitants it observes.
Unfolding in a series of eight vignettes, Sound Spring explores the unique story of the small town of Yellow Springs, Ohio. Tracing more than 100 years of history, the film is narrated by its residents in comical sequences: one interviewee rollerblades and reads the village’s water meters, another stands on his head in a breakdancing freeze. American history comes to life in their descriptions—ancestors’ settlements after slavery, a friendship with Coretta Scott King, Ohio’s Trail of Tears—among other more personal details of small-town life. The wording of their recollections is imperfect, unsure, because they are all recreations of previous audio interviews. By interacting with their own recorded media, villagers uncover layers of time and storytelling. Sound Spring was supported by the Wexner Center’s Film/Video Studio and Alvarez was the 2020 Ohio Shorts Jury Award winner. (95 mins., DCP)
