Artist stories

Local Filmmakers and Directors, Aleksandra Wolska, and founder of the Impact Media Group, Eric Thiermann, came into the KZSC Radio Station to talk about their new documentary, It Tolls For Thee: Bells and Their Stories.

We began the show with an excerpt of John Donne’s poem “For Whom the Bell Tolls” that Aleksandra explained is the crux of the idea behind the movie.

“No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend’s or of thine own were: any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”

With the movie, It Tolls For Thee: Bells and Their Stories, viewers will be taken on a poetic journey exploring the unique role of bells in various cultures around the world. Eric and Aleksandra visit a remote Greek Island invaded by bell-carrying animal spirits, record the exorcizing of evil forces from the painted monasteries in Romania and witness the liberation of ancestral ghosts in Japanese Shinto Shrines achieved by the cleansing power of sound.  A 30-ton bell in Poland peals from a king’s tower on All Saints Day and LA inner-city children come together as a family through the healing power of bells.

The film’s exquisite soundtrack highlights music of the acclaimed Sonos Handbell Ensemble of Oakland, appearing live in a quartet before the film.

Eric is the founder and director the Impact Media Group beginning in the early 70s and has produced, directed and been the director of photography on many movies over the years such as Calypso Dreams, The Last Epidemic and Deflating the Elephant.  IMPACT is a full-service creative media agency partnering with corporations, brands, and independent film producers.