He does not speak, communicating with his instrument and a kind of self-created sign language.
This was the unusual sight witnessed by residents of Point Reyes and other towns in the 1970s.
Since 1973, he has maintained a vow of silence.
John Francis seen in a photograph taken by Art RogersL.A. Times/Bloomberg Green Docs
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It was some sort of compilation, like 10 Black people you should know in the outdoor space…
So, I was like, Ill flip through and learn who these people are.
John Francis, back in the dayLA Times/Bloomberg Green Docs
And I came across Johns story and I was like, this is amazing…
I was impressed and I went to Dom and I said, I think I found our next story.
Abandoning the spoken word somehow allowed him to circumvent negative stereotypes projected onto African Americans.
He didnt have to prove himself anymore.
Later, he taught college, again without speaking.
In time, he earned his Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin, researching oil spills.
For 17 years, he maintained his silence.
It went against his natural inclination.
And I went, Oh, that wouldnt work for me, Im sorry.
So, I left and said, thats the end of that vocation.
And then 10 years later I find myself walking around California not speaking.
Im going to not speak for the day.
I was readingThe Hobbit… and Hobbits give birthday gifts to people not to themselves.
They dont expect gifts; they give it to their community.
And I figured Im going to give my community the gift of my silence for one day.
Thank you, John, thank you for this wonderful gift.
As time passed, he began to find other benefits to silence.
The first year was like, Oh my God, Im going to have to do this another year!
It was 17 years of walking across America and meeting all kinds of people.
Silence and the revelations it brought expanded his perspective on healing the planet.
The road was also a teacher and people, they were also teachers.
And so I learned from people about how we were all part of the environment, Francis says.
Thats when I decided, Oh, you have to start talking and say that.
If we deconstruct everything, we do really only have one original tool.
And that is, as John keeps saying, how we treat each other.
And its really at the bottom of all good science, all progress, all political progress.
Realizing the message can be that simple is both counterintuitive to the way I was educated and extremely valuable.
Planetwalkeris streaming on both the L.A. Times website, the Bloomberg News website, andYouTube.
Nadia says it has been gratifying to make the Oscar shortlist because we are coming from left field.
We didnt get on any of the shorts lists [of predictions], like the roundup things.
I think people still are learning about our film in real time and how good it is.
And we hope that the film can stand on its merits.
