CentralTrak will host Next Topic: A Far Thing Coming Closer, a panel discussion that will include the screening of four short films by Richard Bailey, Paul Bryan, Colette Copeland and Michael A. Morris.

The films presented make up a survey of post-Christian America: a culture highly suspicious of ideas like virgin births and parting waters, yet still thirsty for a consoling message of meaning and personal redemption. The films “explore the evolution of foundational images that empowered the ancients to the current secular imagery.” The phrase, "a far thing coming closer" is a spiritual image out of folk preaching, similar to "a long train coming." The phrases reference a vague death, or judgment day event; they are solemn metaphors that imply waiting in awe for something significant to be revealed.

The short films include: 

The Disappearance of the Grackles by Richard Bailey: This examination of a miracle examines the turning point when the admiration in an awe-inspiring event begins to fade and people go back to their routines.

Believe It Anyway! by Paul Bryan: Drawing from five Biblical narratives this film explores charged feelings of grief and wonder.

3 Days in Limbo by Colette Copeland: Based on common and recurrent real-life events, a father recounts the story of his teenaged daughter who unwittingly makes a decision with cataclysmic consequences.

Fires by Michael A. Morris: Shot with a super 35mm camera, this series of narratives and landscapes investigates the phenomenon of memory constantly disappearing and thus explores the limits of autobiography.