The eighteenth of July is World Listening Day, founded by the World Listening Project in 2010. The purpose of the day, according to the founders, “aims to raise awareness about the significance of listening as a cultural practice and promotes sonic stewardship of the environment.” I learned about World Listening Day while reading an interview with artist Emeka Ogboh about his installation art “Lagos State of Mind III” and how it’s rooted in active listening. Coincidentally, I happened to read the article on July 18, 2025 (World Listening Day) — what are the odds? 1 in 365? I made this film just a few hours after reading the interview. Ogboh explains there are three parts to acoustic environments: biophony (nature, animals), geophony (weather), and anthropophony (humans).

In “La Journée” I’ve tried to capture those three: traffic, bikes, talking, ping pong, summer insects, trumpet and flute buskers, fountains, wind, the cracking of an egg, butter spread on a bagel, chewing. The film begins and ends with me laying in bed. I start at my apartment in Philadelphia, the anthropophony quickly takes the lead — it’s the city center, full of traffic, people, engines, an unsettling sucking noise that seems to permeate the summer breeze. I take the Patco train into New Jersey. We see Philadelphia disappear into a golden horizon. The first thing I see leaving the train are tall bushes full of birds chattering. I drive to my hometown, Pilesgrove, where my parents still reside. The environment is markedly different than Philadelphia — rural, country. A crowded city gives way to unpopulated farms. Biophony takes over. Insects buzz and howl as we observe the sun setting over a horse pasture. Anthropophony reemerges, but unlike Philadelphia’s city scape, it becomes increasingly personal until I’m back in bed — a different bed, enjoying a bite of dinner,