Documentaries as VISUAL POEms
A traditional film follows the arc of a typical narrative, following chronological events from chapter to chapter. The visual poem is an original concept by Marlon F. Hall that moves through the narrative from stanza to stanza, more like a sonnet, driven by a shapeless love for the subjects and their stories.
Art, original music, ethnography and poetry meet to form Folklore Films. This visual-anthropological film project that tells better stories to people about people one subject at a time.
Each visual poem in the series is a narrative that moves from one stanza to the next driven, by emotional aesthetics.
“Doorways to Hope” honors Greenwood's history by celebrating 20 present-day North Tulsa community members who inspire the future. Each reclaimed door tells a story and serves as a portal to QR code-led narratives and stylized portraits of often-overlooked North Tulsans. Rooted in deep engagement with Tulsa's Black community, the installation features ethnographic films directed by Marlon F. Hall, referred to as “visual poems,” along with audio narratives that allow honorees to share their stories and hopes in their own words. This film features 97 year old Maybelle Wallace https://doorwaystohopetulsa.com/maybelle-wallace/ Maybelle Wallace is a leader in Theatre North. She leads with grace, wisdom, and intentionality, using theater arts as community engagement.
This film was screened alongside a live improvisational micro-orchestra featuring Grammy Award–winning musicians, musically directed by Chris Dave. Directed by Marlon F. Hall, the project is designed to activate the power of story-listening through real-time performance. At a time when storytelling is often shaped by commercialization, this presentation returns to its ancient roots—as a communal form of communication and education.
Live-scored visual poems unfold like rituals. The musicians, watching the film for the first time alongside the audience, respond intuitively—playing what they feel and hear in the moment.
The film also features a meta-narrative performed by interdisciplinary artist Autumn Knight, whose improvised performance was shaped in real time by her embodied response to the environment—blurring the line between subject, space, and witness. The result is not just a performance, but a shared sensory experience—where the act of listening becomes embodied, immediate, and deeply felt.
This work was created during Marlon’s residency at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston. It is the artist, anthropologist, and filmmaker’s way of creating ethnographic films that are intuitive as well as intellectual—spiritual, not solely social science.
This Visual Poem in three stanzas features Sarah Ahmad.
Through her installation, The American Dream, Sarah Ahmad creates an unexpected sanctuary, space where visitors might be moved to seek solace and renewal, to heal from generations of pain and trauma. At the center of her work, Ahmad has constructed a simple canvas tent that she modeled after those that were quickly constructed as an emergency shelter after the 1921 Race Massacre, as well as those that the artist saw while growing up in Lahore, Pakistan. Marigolds cover the structure, their fragrance, and color working together in creating a peaceful idyll, albeit one of the symbolic associations.
Houston Arts Alliance Folk Film Department
The stories are driven by visual poetry. Folklore Films Presented visual poems highlighting Houstonians who are folkloric in their life’s work. Part film screening, part live performance, this event will feature live performances from Vibraphonist Chase Jordan, Guitarist Denis Cisneros, Bassist Ikechi Ojore and Vocalist Michele Thibeaux Jason Mitchell woven throughout the premiere of four new films.
This project is funded in part by a grant from the City of Houston; City’s Initiative Program through the Houston Arts Alliance, support from Kickin’ Kombucha, and the Office of Vice Mayor Pro Tem Jerry Davis.
Film Screening | Live Music | Artist Talk | Reception & Cross-Pollination Mixer