Thin Places

She Cried That Day

Content warning: This episode talks about the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives crisis. Please take care to protect your spirit. Welcome to the final episode of Sonic Journey's pilot season. All season we’ve been listening to films from the 4th World Media family, and today we're joined by another emerging filmmaker, Amanda Erickson, who directed the feature documentary She Cried That Day [https://seesclearlyproductions.com/].  Amanda is a badass Native woman, and She Cried That Day is about more badass Native women. It gives an intimate look inside what families go through who are part of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives crisis. In North America,  murder is the third leading cause of death for Native women. She Cried That Day is part of an impact campaign to bring affected families together in order to support each other and to effect policy change.  Sonic Journeys is presented by 4th World Media [https://4thworldmedia.org/], a matriarch-led organization dedicated to media justice, narrative sovereignty and the holistic care of underserved filmmakers.  Host and Creator: Stina Thomas Hamlin Supervising Producer: Jenny Asarnow Executive Producer: Tracy Rector Theme song: Tooh Nílíní [https://music.apple.com/us/song/tooh-ni-li-ni-river/1732219623] by Kino Benally Consulting Graphic Designer: Joel Schomberg  Cover art: Mer Young Connect with us on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/4thworldmediaorg/?hl=en] and LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/4th-world-media]. Sonic Journeys is an independent podcast. You can find it on Apple Podcasts and anywhere else you get podcasts.

What's next for Sonic Journeys

We're four episodes into our pilot season of Sonic Journeys, with one more to go.  This isn’t going to be a full episode; we just want to introduce you to our collaborators and let you all know about what’s coming next for Sonic Journeys. Host Stina Hamlin is joined by Sonic Journeys executive producer Tracy Rector (in a blanket fort) and supervising producer Jenny Asarnow (mostly behind the scenes).  The 4th World Media vibe is all about care for one another as collaborators, and care for the artists that these stories are supporting. It’s important to rest, it’s important to heal, and it’s important to create. Sonic Journeys is presented by 4th World Media [https://4thworldmedia.org/], a matriarch-led organization dedicated to media justice, narrative sovereignty and the holistic care of underserved filmmakers.  Host and Creator: Stina Thomas Hamlin Supervising Producer: Jenny Asarnow Executive Producer: Tracy Rector Theme song: Tooh Nílíní [https://music.apple.com/us/song/tooh-ni-li-ni-river/1732219623] by Kino Benally Consulting Graphic Designer: Joel Schomberg  Cover art: Mer Young Connect with us on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/4thworldmediaorg/?hl=en] and LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/4th-world-media]. Sonic Journeys is an independent podcast. You can find it on Apple Podcasts and anywhere else you get podcasts.

Thin Places

Content Warning: This story discusses grief related to the loss of family. Internal dialogue. Laughter. An ominous moment of dramatic sound. “Please answer me. I’m ready to listen now.”  So far on Sonic Journeys we’ve been listening to a lot of documentaries, but today we’ll hear a drama. Thin Places [https://www.tuyagaduproductions.com/thin-places], a short written and directed by Brit Hensel [https://brithensel.com/about] (Cherokee Nation), explores how the living can connect with those who have passed on.  How does it feel to just listen to the quiet, and to sit in the not knowing?  Content warning: subject matter (death) and strong language  Sonic Journeys is presented by 4th World Media [https://4thworldmedia.org/], a matriarch-led organization dedicated to media justice, narrative sovereignty and the holistic care of underserved filmmakers.  Host and Creator: Stina Thomas Hamlin Supervising Producer: Jenny Asarnow Executive Producer: Tracy Rector Theme song: Tooh Nílíní [https://music.apple.com/us/song/tooh-ni-li-ni-river/1732219623] by Kino Benally Consulting Graphic Designer: Joel Schomberg  Cover art: Mer Young Connect with us on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/4thworldmediaorg/?hl=en] and LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/4th-world-media]. Sonic Journeys is an independent podcast. You can find it on Apple Podcasts and anywhere else you get podcasts.

WASKA: The Forest Is My Family

Often on Sonic Journeys we hear from filmmakers about how they work with sound, but today we’re trying something different: we’re just going to listen to a short film.  “WASKA: The Forest is My Family [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jG6B0o1QfQ]” feels like bathing in a forest. It honors co-director Nina Gualinga [https://www.instagram.com/ninagualinga/?hl=en]’s grandfather, a leader who had a deep relationship with the powerful – and coveted – plant medicine Hayakwaska. Gualinga explains that the film “invites us to collectively question the ways in which we seek to heal ourselves, so that we don’t perpetuate the legacy of extractivism.”  What does it feel like to just listen to this film? We invite you to try.  Learn more about "WASKA" on The Guardian’s website [https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2025/jun/17/waska-the-cost-of-spiritual-healing-in-the-amazon].   Sonic Journeys is presented by 4th World Media [https://4thworldmedia.org/], a matriarch-led organization dedicated to media justice, narrative sovereignty and the holistic care of underserved filmmakers.  Host and Creator: Stina Thomas Hamlin Supervising Producer: Jenny Asarnow Executive Producer: Tracy Rector Theme song: Tooh Nílíní [https://music.apple.com/us/song/tooh-ni-li-ni-river/1732219623] by Kino Benally Consulting Graphic Designer: Joel Schomberg  Cover art: Mer Young Connect with us on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/4thworldmediaorg/?hl=en] and LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/4th-world-media]. Sonic Journeys is an independent podcast. You can find it on Apple Podcasts and anywhere else you get podcasts.

Gath and K’iyh: Listen to Heal

A gorgeous short film transports us to Alaska – to the birch trees, salmon swimming upstream, and the humans that care for them. Gath & K’iyh: Listen to Heal [https://www.reciprocity.org/films/gath-and-kiyh] documents a community gathering on Lower Tanana Dene lands in Fairbanks, Alaska. Yo-Yo Ma plays cello as a group gathers together to grieve climate change and honor the land.   Gath & K’iyh’s director Princess Daazhraii Johnson (Neets'aii Gwich'in) listens back on the film and shares her reflections about “how critical it is to find that time to listen so that we can protect our ways of life.”  Learn more about Gath & K’iyh [https://www.reciprocity.org/films/gath-and-kiyh] Sonic Journeys is presented by 4th World Media [https://4thworldmedia.org/], a matriarch-led organization dedicated to media justice, narrative sovereignty and the holistic care of underserved filmmakers.  Host and Creator: Stina Thomas Hamlin Supervising Producer: Jenny Asarnow Executive Producer: Tracy Rector Theme song: Tooh Nílíní [https://music.apple.com/us/song/tooh-ni-li-ni-river/1732219623] by Kino Benally Consulting Graphic Designer: Joel Schomberg  Cover art: Mer Young Connect with us on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/4thworldmediaorg/?hl=en] and LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/4th-world-media]. Sonic Journeys is an independent podcast. You can find it on Apple Podcasts and anywhere else you get podcasts.