A new audio documentary examines how nostalgia shapes storytelling and media today.
Made by Global Academy student, Imad Daili, Echoes of Then is a three-part series that looks beyond emotion to explore how memory influences identity and creative output across modern culture.
The series focuses on how familiar cultural moments are revisited and reshaped for contemporary audiences, and what that means for a generation surrounded by recurring formats, trends and references.
Across three episodes titled Why Do We Miss the Past, repackaging the past and out of time, the series presents a structured look at nostalgia from both a personal and industry perspective.
It considers not only why audiences are drawn to the past, but also how media systems reuse and reshape those experiences into repeatable formats.
Imad Daili describes the series as an attempt to examine nostalgia as both a personal feeling and a wider media tool.
He says: “In this series I wanted to explore something people overlook constantly, nostalgia, but not just a feeling, beyond that.
“It’s something we feel every day, but it is also something that can be shaped, re-used and repackaged on media.
“The series looks at both sides of the isle, the comfort of memory and then the systems that turn it into something structured and repeatable.”
The production places a strong emphasis on sound design as a storytelling device. Analogue textures, glitches and layered audio are used throughout to reflect how memory is experienced, aiming to create a sense of familiarity while also highlighting its instability.
This approach supports the editorial aim of moving beyond discussion into a more immersive listening experience, where sound plays a central role in communicating the themes of memory and recall.
The first episode is scheduled for release on 4 May, with promotion planned across social platforms under the handle @imad.wav.
