Short Attention Span Cinema: StoryCorps Stories That Stay With Us
Friday, May 8 - Thursday, July 2, 2026
As part of our ongoing Short Attention Span Cinema program, IFC Center is proud to share a collection of shorts from StoryCorps before our regular feature presentations.
5/8-5/14: “To R.P. Salazar, With Love” (2:55)
In January 2007, Rachel P. Salazar and Ruben P. Salazar were living 9,000 miles apart and completely unaware of each other’s existence. But when an email meant for Rachel accidentally went to Ruben, it wasn’t long before an ordinary mistake began to look like an extraordinary stroke of luck.
5/15-5/21: “Tom’s War” (2:24)
After being drafted in 1969, Tom Geerdes served as an Army medic in the 11th Armored Cavalry in Vietnam and Cambodia. Like many veterans, he returned home a changed man. At StoryCorps, Tom shared his long journey toward healing with his daughter, Hannah Campbell.
5/22-5/28: “Driven” (2:48)
In 2015, Wendell Scott became the first African American person inducted in the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, he poured his heart, soul, and all of his earnings into maintaining his own race car. At StoryCorps, his son, Frank, remembers what it took for his father to cross the finish line at racetracks throughout the South.
5/29-6/4: “School’s Out” (3:02)
Reverend James Seawood grew up in the 1950s in Sheridan, Arkansas, and attended an all-Black school. The town’s main employer and landlord was a lumber mill. Following the federal mandate to integrate the public schools, the mill forced its African American employees and tenants out of town. As the population diminished, James’ mother became his school’s principal, janitor, and whatever else was needed. At StoryCorps, he recalls how integration led to African American families being forced out of his hometown, the human cost of “urban renewal,” and the fate of his beloved school.
6/5-6/11: “Man of Steel” (2:50)
To Ken Kobus, the steel mill was always a part of his life. His father, John Kobus, dedicated 40 years of his career as a steelmaker. Towards the end of John’s life, he spent it bedridden in hospice care, motioning and manipulating the air as if he was still making steel. At StoryCorps, Ken sits down with his friend Ron Barraf to honor John’s legacy.
6/12-6/18: “Two by Two” (2:45)
In the summer of 1946, Hunny Feller and her identical twin sister, Bunny, were waitresses at a hotel. Another set of identical twins, Elliot and Danny Reiken, worked as musicians in a band there. By the end of the summer, the two couples had become inseparable. Watch Hunny and Elliot reflect on 61 years of marriage.
6/19-6/25: “The Treasure of Mrs. Grady’s Library” (2:46)
Judge Olly Neal grew up in Arkansas during the 1950s and didn’t care much for high school. One day he wandered into the library, where he came across a book by African American author Frank Yerby. The cover piqued his interest, but Olly didn’t want to risk his reputation by letting his classmates see him voluntarily reading. So rather than check out the book, he stole it. He recounts how this book — and a little nudge from two helpful librarians — turned him around academically.
6/26-7/2: The View from Here (2:41)
Barb Abelhauser worked in an office for 14 years. Then one day she quit, and decided to become a bridgetender on the Ortega River Bridge in Jacksonville, Florida. She planned to work there for a year. Eight years later, she shares the moments of beauty and intimacy of her job, and why she decided to stay.