Travis R. Bell, Ph.D.

March 28, 2018

Objects in Motion is a documentary that explores the rise of flow arts as a communicative practice and form of play. This documentary introduces a group of college students at the University of South Florida who use flow arts for creative expression, self-esteem, and tension relief from the stresses of everyday life while attempting to break stereotypes. Flow arts combine coordination with freestyling possibilities that provide alternative social activities to traditional sports and games. With a mixture of circus activities, flow arts range from juggling and hula hooping to spinning poi and slacklining. These individual activities improve concentration, self-esteem, and motor skills. Beyond the personalized benefits, these students are building community through a unique use of public space. Objects in Motion produces a closer look as the imaginative and fun world of flow arts as an aspect of human life surrounding interaction and sense-making through recreational play.

June 10, 2017

Tampa Technique: Rise, Demise, and Remembrance of Central Avenue analyzes the strategic and calculated Civil Rights Movement in Tampa, Florida through the lens of Central Avenue. Segregation created the thriving black business district until its demise beginning in the 1960s with urban renewal, interstate construction, and a 1967 riot sparked by the death of a 19-year-old black man killed by a white police officer. These social forces led to the physical and symbolic destruction of Central Avenue. Tampa Technique is guided by interviews with residents, historians, and anthropologists to explore the state's first bi-racial committee, lunch counter sit-ins, integration of public facilities and schools, urban renewal/removal, interstate construction, and the '67 death of Chambers. The documentary begins and ends in Perry Harvey, Sr. Park to situate how Central Avenue is publicly memorialized.

January 31, 2017

Team Tampa featured over a dozen Division I football recruits as they competed for a third national title in five years at the 2015 IMG 7v7 National Championship, Team Tampa was guided by Florida State quarterback Malik Henry, Clemson wide receiver T.J. Chase, and Georgia tight end Isaac Nauta. The documentary highlights Team Tampa's chase for the championship, explains the construction of the Team Tampa brand, and discusses the impact of 7v7 on college football recruiting and media coverage.

November 21, 2015

A documentary that follows first-year Largo High School football coach Marcus Paschal in 2014. After four years in the NFL, Paschal returned to his alma mater as the school's first African-American head coach. This documentary screened at four film festivals.

A documentary about the growth of craft brewing in the Tampa Bay area, focusing on Cigar City Brewing and Barley Mow Brewing Co. This film was a finalist in the 2013 Campus MovieFest at the University of South Florida.