Walking in Place: Using AR to Recover Fillmore’s Redevelopment Histories | Michael Epstein (Fall Colloquium)

Michael Epstein a screenwriter, journalist and pioneer in interactive documentaries.  He has a Master’s degree in Comparative Media Studies from MIT where he focused on location-based storytelling applications.  Through his studio, Walking Cinema, Michael has produced numerous immersive storytelling apps for broadcast clients including MTV, PBS, Audible, and Detour.  His 2009 production for PBS was the first app to win an award in a film festival and was declared Best of Boston by the Boston Globe.  His interactive production on marine climate change, “Blue Impact,” for the New England Aquarium won the American Association of Museum’s Silver Muse Award.  He was also awarded the Gold Muse award for his early Augmented Reality maritime history project “Posts from Gloucester” and his featured project “Museum of the Hidden City” won the 2020 Gold Muse award.     

Michael’s documentary career started as a freelance reporter for NPR’s “Morning Edition” and expanded to longform journalism, creating several original audio series for Audible on topics ranging from the geography of literature to the tension between art and technology in Silicon Valley.  In 2021, Walking Cinema completed its first walking + driving experience:  Free & Equal about an early experiment in African American freedom in Sea Islands, South Carolina.  He and his team are currently in development on another story about housing history for the Smithsonian and an immersive podcast about religious sites in Boston. 

Tianna is a Black, queer, genderfluid poet, performance and teaching artist. As a slam poet, they placed 5th at the National Poetry Slam 2017 and 7th in the world at the Women of The World Poetry Slam. 

They have earned fellowships at The Watering Hole, Griot’s Well and Tin House. Tianna is a 2021 Best of the Net Nominee and finalist for the Miss Sarah Fellowship. Their work appears or is forthcoming in Shade Literary Arts, Stellium Lit Magazine, Ink Well, December Magazine, Quiet Lightning and elsewhere. 

Tianna has a B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies from California Institute of Integral Studies. As a teaching artist she has worked with organizations such as Youth Speaks, Upward Bound, Bay Area Creative and more.

Website: www.walkingcinema.org

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