a film by Alan Govenar

SYNOPSIS

A tribute to 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.

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, Texas demonstrate a path forward against all odds.

WHERE TO WATCH

Gateway Film Center

1550 North High St.
Columbus, Ohio 43201

February 1, 2026

PREVIOUS SCREENINGS

Cinema Village

22 East 12th Street
New York, NY 10003

November 14-20, 2025

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ARTICLE ABOUT TALKBACK

TRAILER

Director Alan Govenar frames Jasper not only through the horror that made national headlines in 1998, but through the people who refused to let that be the final sentence. We meet elders and organizers whose lives have been shaped by segregation, disenfranchisement, and the grind of being asked to “move on.” The film’s title is literal: the voices are measured, firm, and rarely performative.

Chris Jones, Overly Honest Reviews
“Quiet Voices” is 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
Quiet Voices in a Noisy World presents a different kind of survival narrative than action films or political thrillers typically offer. Instead of explosions and gunfire, Alan Govenar’s documentary features something far more powerful: the quiet determination of African American volunteers in Jasper, Texas who have spent decades working to heal their community after one of modern America’s most horrific acts of racial violence. The film ... represents a significant contribution to contemporary documentary filmmaking about racial trauma, community resilience, and the long process of building dignity where hate once tried to destroy it.

AndersonVision
Govenar’s film is a hopeful portrait of how the quiet, determined resilience, kindness and hard work of a Black community is conquering hatred one inspired act at a time.

Herbert Gambill, Mystery Catalog
The film’s value is undeniable. It models how to build a usable past, one that arms the present with facts, names, and heroism. It reminds us that museums and markers are not endpoints; they are staging grounds for a civic imagination that includes everyone. And it honors people like Stella Mae Byrd, whose endurance refuses to let violence define what Jasper is allowed to be. By the time the lights come up, the film has made its case: remembrance is a form of public service, and in a noisy world, quiet voices can re-author the record.

Chris Jones, Overly Honest Reviews
The reason you will want to see this film is because the people you will meet on screen will move you. These are great people who are great storytellers. These are the sort of people you will want to hang out with in a diner and just talk for hours. Everyone on screen has an ability to connect the stories they are protecting and sharing to the hear and now. The bad old days are here but with their help we can find away to put them truly back in the past. This is an important film you should see.

Steve Kopian, Unseen Films
The power of Quiet Voices in a Noisy World emerges from recognition that some stories refuse silence. For more than twenty-five years, the citizens of Jasper have organized exhibitions, museums, memorials, and grassroots projects designed to honor James Byrd Jr.’s memory while simultaneously rejecting the narrative of their town as primarily defined by violence. This documentary represents a continuation of that resistance, telling the story of ordinary people engaged in extraordinary acts of community repair and historical witness.

AndersonVision
In the end, this is a thoughtful, grounded work—moving and measured, with a persuasive moral clarity and a deliberately unshowy style. It’s not the only account of Jasper’s transformation, but it is a deeply respectful chapter in that ongoing story. As a document of community action, it lands right where it aims: not with triumphalism, but with proof that persistence can change what a town chooses to see.

Chris Jones, Overly Honest Reviews
Quiet Voices in a Noisy World offers exactly the kind of thoughtful, sustained engagement that distinguishes important filmmaking from mere documentation of tragic events. The film insists that some stories cannot remain silent and that communities possess capacity to transform what violent histories try to define them by.

AndersonVision
The hopeful and the triumphant part of this movie is that community, they withstood a blow. They turned that into a triumph. You will not be able to beat us down. You will not be able to break our spirit despite the cruelty you have visited upon us. So that’s the story in Quiet Voices in a Noisy World that I think people will come away with despite the tough subject.

Jack Marchbanks

PRESS PHOTOS

Willie Land (far left) and George Adams (right) at the J.H. Rowe School memorial, Jasper, TX, September 16, 2024
Fred McCray at the G.W. Carver Museum, Jasper, TX, June 19, 2025
Sandy Creek, Jasper, Texas, September 16, 2024
James Byrd Jr. gravestone, Jasper, Texas, September 17, 2024
Historic Jasper Colored & J.H. Rowe Schools Museum, Jasper, Texas, September 17, 2024
Historic Jasper Colored & J.H. Rowe Schools Museum, Jasper, Texas, September 17, 2024
Fred McCray, Jasper, TX, June 19, 2025
J.H. Rowe School memorial, Jasper, Texas, September 16, 2024
Scherita Hill, Jasper, Texas, June 20, 2025