'The Sound is Innocent' Film Screening and Keynote

RIT's School of Film and Animation is welcoming sound designer, composer and educator Martin Ožvold for a lecture and film screening. Ožvold teaches at the Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts (FAMU) in Prague, Czech Republic, with which RIT has a new student exchange program.

Programming schedule (open to all)

Martin Ožvold keynote lecture + Q-and-A "Sonic Thinking: Theory, Practice, Pedagogy at FAMU"
6 p.m. Thursday, March 26
Gannett Hall, A060

The Sound is Innocent film screening + Q-and-A (composer and sound designer: Martin Ožvold)
6 p.m. Friday, March 27
Wegmans Theater, MAGIC Spell Studios

About Martin Ožvold 

Martin Ožvold is an innovative sound artist and designer with a diverse portfolio that encompasses music, sound design for film, audio installations, radio, and podcasts. He is recognized for his ability to blend electroacoustic composition with storytelling, creating immersive auditory experiences. 

He holds a Ph.D. in composition from the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Brno. His academic journey includes a master’s degree in electroacoustic composition from the University of Birmingham, a bachelor’s degree with honors in sound arts from Middlesex University in London, and a diploma in higher education in sound engineering from the SAE Institute in London. Additionally, he completed a postgraduate research internship at the Institute of Sonology at the Royal College of Arts in The Hague. 

From 2020-22, Ožvold worked as a sound dramaturge and designer for Bionaut Films, where he developed sound design for the award-winning audio series Anatomy of Fear, which received the Best Documentary award at Prix Bohemia Radio in 2021. He also contributed to the podcast Therapy by Sharing, which was nominated for Best Sound Design in 2021, and the feature film Runner, nominated for Best Sound Design at the 2021 Lithuanian Film Awards. 

In addition to his work in film and podcasts, Ožvold was the sound designer for the podcast Mathematics of Crime, which won the award for Best Sound Documentary at Prix Bohemia Radio in 2020. His collaborations, particularly with Danish radio documentarian Brit Jensen, have garnered nominations at numerous international sound festivals, including the Third Coast International Audio Festival and Prix Europe. 

Among his notable artistic contributions are the music and sound design for Holly Roth's play at the Slovak National Theatre, collaborations with the Birmingham Ensemble for Electroacoustic Research, and the sound concept, music, and script for the film The Sound Is Innocent, directed by his wife, Johana Ožvold. His music has also been featured in the Oscar-nominated documentary I Am Not Who I Want to Be by Klára Tasovská. 

Ožvold is a co-founder of the ZVUK platform in Prague and received the Vinyla Award for Music Work of the Year in 2019. He currently teaches sound arts in the context of multimedia design at FAMU in Prague. His research interests include the cultural history of sound design, electroacoustic sound production, and methodologies for teaching audio production.