First Run Features presents a new documentary by Alan Govenar
Quiet Voices IN A NOISY WORLD
The Struggle for Change in Jasper, Texas
Opens November 14, 2025 at the Cinema Village in New York City
Director Alan Govenar will attend the premiere and is available for interviews.
Quiet Voices in a Noisy World captures the indomitable spirit of a group of African American volunteers in Jasper, Texas to overcome adversity through hard work, self-reliance, and community engagement. Plagued by a long history of virulent racial violence, these volunteers have spearheaded an unprecedented number of projects to reclaim the dignity of their community and to advance social justice.
Perhaps no town has experienced the racial divide in America as much as Jasper. The lynching of James Byrd Jr. in 1998 revealed the deep division between the African American community and their white counterparts. The legacy of slavery runs deep
in Jasper; most Blacks have a clear kinship to ancestors who were emancipated on June 19, 1865, and many have suffered from the ravaging effects of Jim Crow racism. Life for African Americans in Jasper has always been tough, described as Apartheid by George Adams, a descendent of the slave Billy McCrea. Jasper is a place where Blacks represent most of the population but lack representation in government.
In the film, the racial trauma of Byrd’s lynching is seen in counterpoint to the efforts of his mother Stella Byrd along with other members of the Lone Star Youth Council to transform Jasper by highlighting the importance of African American history in museums, roadside markers, monuments, parks, and a memorial to Byrd in front of the County Courthouse. Installations at the Jasper County Historical Museum feature displays on Freedom Colonies in the area and the chronology of the Byrd killing and the prosecution of the white perpetrators, as well as a survey of the work of Alonzo Jordan, a self-taught local Black photographer who documented the day-to-day life of his community for more than three decades.
Quiet Voices in a Noisy World could not be more relevant in today’s world, at a time when attempts to rectify the injustices of history are being undermined by the politics of erasure. The African American volunteers in Jasper demonstrate a path forward against all odds.
"Quiet Voices in a Noisy Worldis a perfect
title, for this story is told with a peacefulness to it. Despite the pain from the past, none of these voices are shouting or in any way mean-spirited. There is a calmness – a quietness, if you will – that is befitting the character of this grieving community and its people as they try to heal." -Bob Ray Sanders, Journalist and Civil Rights Leader
QUIET VOICES IN A NOISY WORLD
A film by Alan Govenar
Written by Alan Govenar and Jason Johnson-Spinos
Edited by Jason Johnson-Spinos
Cinematography by Robert Tullier, Alan Govenar, and Didier Dahan
Produced by Documentary Arts
FeaturingGeorge Elbert Adams • Fred McCray • Willie Land • Jim McCray •Norma Adams-Wade • Bob Ray Sanders • Stella Mae Byrd • Helen Jordan • Raymond Lacey • Booker T. Hunter • Reverend John D. Hardin • Florine Hardin • Eddie Shelby • Reverend Kenneth O. Lyons • Deacon Jack Lane •Marla Smith • Emma Sharp Adams • Willie Faye McFarland • Charlene Hafford • Mary Lee Hafford • Scherita Hill •Milnes Rodel-Henson • Agnes Ruth Armstrong-Henson •Todd Lawless • Courtney Parker • Wyatt Black • Aaliyah Afolavi
Concurrent with the theatrical premiere of Quiet Voices in a Noisy World will be a retrospective of several earlier films by Alan Govenar.
Alan Govenar is an American artist who has gone beyond a singular medium in order to uncover uniquely American stories throughout his 50 year career.
Govenar is a Guggenheim Fellow, an extensively published author, filmmaker, photographer, sound archivist, and playwright whose work has explored American culture through an incredible range of lenses.
This year marks some major milestones in Alan’s career. His classic tattoo documentary, Stoney Knows How, was restored and added to the Criterion collection, and the premiere of his new doc Quiet Voices in a Noisy World: The Struggle for Change in Jasper, Texasopens theatrically in New York on November 14.
New exhibitions of Alan’s work as an interdisciplinary artist are underway, reflecting on his ongoing multifaceted focus on America's arts and culture on everything from Texas blues to the evolution of tattoo culture, and he has added three news books to his 40+ fiction and non-fiction publications.
