Breathing in the 'Meanwhile': Catherine Gund on identity, memory, and what lives between us
A conversation with the filmmaker behind a docu-poem born from chaos, shaped by artists, and carried on the shared breath that binds us all.
I recently sat down with acclaimed documentary filmmaker and activist Catherine Gund ahead of a packed house LA screening of her new film Meanwhile, a “docu-poem in six parts,” where host Beandrea July will lead the Q&A. After we connected about our shared Australian heritage, the Ohio-raised filmmaker opened up about the themes underpinning her beautiful new film.
Meanwhile is described as a “docu-poem” for a reason. To me, it is a necessary, vital meditation on empathy and coexistence. Gund fuses the work of multidisciplinary artists, the words of Jacqueline Woodson, the soundscape shaped by Meshell Ndegeocello, archival fragments, intimate interviews and her own eye for texture. Together, these elements explore Black resilience with a focus that feels both grounded and dreamlike. The film uses poetic juxtapositions and an unwavering attention to breath to reflect on the pain and joy within Black life, especially in the long wake of George Floyd’s murder.
Breath holds the film together. You feel it in the friends on oxygen tubes, in the quiet moments, in the warmth and strain of voices that carry memory. Gund wants the viewer to sense their own perspective shifting through presence, not plot. She asks you to acknowledge and sit with the fragile and overlapping realities that unfold around us. The edit with M. Trevino breaks every expectation of traditional documentary structure. There is no single protagonist and no chase for resolution. Gund builds from archival Super-8 grain, ambient noise, stillness and unexpected collisions of sound and image.
The film’s exploration of freedom becomes one of the most striking threads. Freedom is not an endpoint. It’s something practiced and sustained, something artists and activists keep alive through their presence and imagination. The film carries that thread quietly. That sense of continuity shows up in the way the film moves and in the voices it centers.
What stayed with me is the film’s refusal to resolve anything on behalf of the viewer. Meanwhile does not need to deliver comfort or closure. It reminds you that our lives and memories overlap. Gund hopes people leave the film imagining their next moment (and next moment, and next moment) differently. It feels less like a suggestion and more like a quiet invitation. The kind that stays with you. The kind that makes you breathe a little deeper and see the world with a touch more clarity.
Now, breathe.
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