Trauma Town

Amanda Mustard
  • 4.8 (18)
  • SOCIETY & CULTURE
Trauma Town

Trauma Town explores photojournalist and director Amanda Mustard’s navigation of generational trauma in the wake of her HBO documentary, Great Photo, Lovely Life. After spending more than 8 years unlocking secrets of her grandfather’s serial sexual abuse, there’s still a lot left to unpack. How do you tell your family story in a way that embraces its messy reality and avoids sensationalism? How do we respond to sexual violence, and how can we do better? Join Amanda for a series of candid, vulnerable, and occasionally funny conversations about the precariousness of breaking cycles of trauma.

Episodes

  1. 02/07/2024 · BONUS

    Bonus | Catch Up with Mustard

    In a special bonus episode of Trauma Town, Amanda reflects on the overwhelming response she has received in the wake of Great Photo, Lovely Life’s release on December 5, 2023. Joined by Trauma Town producer — and bff — Jen Wilburne, she discusses her approach to receiving feedback, the reactions that she has received from viewers, and what she's got cooking next in her life.  This episode was recorded after the release of Great Photo, Lovely Life.

    25 min

  2. 01/04/2024

    5 | It’s Weird Making a Film About Your Family

    Amanda chats with her friend and mentor Sasha Joseph Neulinger about their shared surreal experience as primary characters in their own documentary projects, what it’s like to navigate projections from outsiders, the importance of self-care, and the subjectivity of language around abuse.   This episode was recorded before the release of Great Photo, Lovely Life. Sasha Joseph Neulinger is the Founder and President of Voice For The Kids, and Co-Founder and Head of Production at Step 1 Films. In 2015, Sasha presented at TEDxBozeman with his first public speech, Trauma Is Irreversible. How It Shapes Us Is Our Choice. Since his TED Talk, Sasha has presented over 100 keynote speeches around the world, helping raise over $8 million for the fight against child abuse. Sasha made his directorial debut at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival with his autobiographical, feature-length documentary, REWIND. REWIND had its US Television Premiere on May 11, 2020 as a part of PBS’ Independent Lens lineup, and has since been streaming for audiences both nationally and internationally. REWIND was nominated for a 2020 Critics Choice Award for Best First Feature Documentary and received three Emmy Nominations in 2021, including Outstanding Social Issue Documentary, Outstanding Direction, and Outstanding Editing.

    31 min

  3. 01/04/2024

    4 | A Culture of Bad Information: How We Treat Victims

    Sexual violence expert Kristen Houser-Rapp discusses society’s attitudes toward victims, misplaced blame, and the oversimplification of issues that could help prevent sexual violence. Kristen gives context around the nature of intrafamilial abuse and the grooming of spouses and family members and dissects Amanda’s family members’ responses to Bill’s violence and predation.  This episode was recorded before the release of Great Photo, Lovely Life. Kristen Houser-Rapp is a leading expert on sexual violence. With decades of experience in the field, Houser is a go-to source for context and expert opinion to national, regional, and international media – including the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, Forbes, and others. Houser-Rapp has served as a lead spokesperson for the National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC), the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape and Raliance, a national partnership working to end sexual violence in one generation. She provides expert opinion, context, and facts about sexual assault to media covering high-profile cases, including those of Bill Cosby and Jerry Sandusky. She graduated from Penn State in 1993 with a bachelor’s degree in Human Development & Family Studies and a minor in Women’s Studies and earned her Master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of Nebraska-Omaha in 2005.

    21 min

  4. 01/04/2024

    3 | Getting Comfortable with Discomfort: How Do We Actually Prevent Abuse?

    Luke Malone – a producer of Great Photo, Lovely Life and expert on sexual abuse prevention – dissects how our society currently deals with child sex abuse, common misconceptions, helpful and harmful language around the topic, and ideas to help advance prevention efforts. This episode was recorded before the release of Great Photo, Lovely Life. Luke Malone is an award-winning journalist who writes stories and produces documentaries and podcasts about sexual harm. He has worked for outlets including TIME, The Washington Post, This American Life, Slate, FX, Gimlet Media, and Showtime. He is co-writing a book about child sexual abuse prevention and the history of U.S. sex crime laws with Dr. Elizabeth Letourneau, director of the Moore Center for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

    28 min

  5. 01/04/2024

    2 | Amanda’s Film Family

    Rachel Beth Anderson, Great Photo Lovely Life’s co-director and director of photography, and Tyler H. Walk, the film’s editor, join the podcast to talk about their experiences making a film together. As friends and collaborators, they discuss the importance of trauma-informed filmmaking, the role that religion played in Amanda’s family’s story, and the importance of finding levity together while telling dark stories.  This episode was recorded before the release of Great Photo, Lovely Life. Rachel Beth Anderson is a Sundance award-winning cinematographer and filmmaker. With over a decade focusing on work in the Middle East, she brings deep-rooted insight and compassion to character-driven pieces both domestically and abroad. Tyler H. Walk is a Sundance Special Jury Award for Editing, Cinema Eye award-winning, and Emmy-nominated editor whose most recent projects include David France's Welcome to Chechnya, the Oscar-Nominated How to Survive a Plague, and Michael Moore's Where to Invade Next. A graduate of Penn State University and The Edit Center, Tyler is also an amateur pinballer and pretend rock star by night. His Bacon number is 2.

    36 min

  6. 01/04/2024

    1 | The Clean-Up Crew

    Erica Flickinger is Amanda’s cousin who coined the term, “The Clean-Up Crew” to describe her and Amanda’s roles in a long lineage of generational trauma. In this conversation she and Amanda open up about codependency, protecting parents who couldn’t protect themselves, and the challenges of being in a dysfunctional family – especially when that family is then the subject of a documentary. This episode was recorded before the release of Great Photo, Lovely Life and contains spoilers.

    22 min
  • 6 Episodes

Ratings & Reviews

4.8
out of 5
18 Ratings

About

Trauma Town explores photojournalist and director Amanda Mustard’s navigation of generational trauma in the wake of her HBO documentary, Great Photo, Lovely Life. After spending more than 8 years unlocking secrets of her grandfather’s serial sexual abuse, there’s still a lot left to unpack. How do you tell your family story in a way that embraces its messy reality and avoids sensationalism? How do we respond to sexual violence, and how can we do better? Join Amanda for a series of candid, vulnerable, and occasionally funny conversations about the precariousness of breaking cycles of trauma.

Information

  • Creator
    Amanda Mustard
  • Years Active
    2K
  • Episodes
    6
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Amanda Mustard
  • Show Website
    Trauma Town

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