Anne Sholtz

The film, Deep Listening: The Story of Pauline Oliveros, emphasizes something that feels especially urgent now; Oliveros’s belief that listening can be healing—not in a shallow, slogan-like way, but in the practical way that true listening reduces violence and restores healthy curiosity, as it makes room for complexity, diversity, and difference. The director calls her message one of “healing, unity and unbridled creative expression,” and the film treats that message not as sentimental inspiration, but as a discipline. Oliveros’s listening wasn’t naive. It didn’t pretend the world was already harmonious. It insisted that harmony—real harmony—requires attention, patience, and relationship.