July 26, 2010 by steve fesenmaier

Ms.Lively receiving a WVPRSA Crystal Award for writing, editing and
production of Crossings – Bridge Building in West Virgina
Terry Lively, M.A., one of WV’s most creative and friendly filmmakers, will be ending her state government career at the end of this week. Congrats on a stellar career – and may she enjoy retirement as much as I have since Dec.2009.
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July 19, 2010 by steve fesenmaier

Dr. Fred Pollock has announced the 2010 summer Jewish Film Night to be held at the WVSU Capitol Center at 123 Summer St. starting at 3 PM. Admission is FREE. They will be showing two documentaries. Read the rest of this entry »
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July 19, 2010 by steve fesenmaier

Labor Groups Met Saturday, July 17th, 10 am at Flatwoods
The West Virginia Labor History Association, The WVU Institute for Labor Studies, WV AFL-CIO and many labor union members met at 10 am on Saturday, July 17th, at the Flatwoods Days Inn to discuss programs on WV labor history. (State Journal story – online, print, and TV) Read the rest of this entry »
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July 7, 2010 by steve fesenmaier
Prez Kevin Carpenter has announced that he is accepting new WV films for the WV Filmmakers Festival that takes place the first weekend of October. Visit the website and learn more about it. Read the rest of this entry »
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July 5, 2010 by steve fesenmaier
Patrick Felton is one of WV’s leading new media activists, getting a degree in media from Syracuse U. and returning home, not Hollywood. He helped organize the recent meeting of the WV Filmmakers Guild in Sutton, and a lot more. He told me about the showing of this film in Huntington and here is his review. I hope to see it myself some day. I have seen the director’s earlier film, “Maneater.” Read the rest of this entry »
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July 3, 2010 by steve fesenmaier

Ed Wiley and wife Deb – photos by Ken Abbott
According to the press release for “On Coal River,” the filmmakers spent six years making their new 81 minute film that premiered at the AFI Silver Docs in Washington. I have seen their earlier masterpiece “Boom,” about the reality of finding a place to live in the San Francisco Bay area, and I think that their six year effort was well spent. Read the rest of this entry »
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June 28, 2010 by steve fesenmaier

West Virginia Filmmakers Guild Presentation
June 12, 2010
I arrived 30 minutes before the session I was attending. I snuck into the back row to listen to the presentor. It turned out to be Mary-Lynn Evans, the filmmaker who made the film “Appalachians” [and "Coal Country" last summer] that was on PBS earlier in the year. I wondered what I got myself into. Read the rest of this entry »
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June 22, 2010 by steve fesenmaier
The Charleston Gazette ran a front page story about the exploding number of gas wells being dug in West Virginia because of the Marcellus Shale today. Last night HBO premiered a film called “Gasland” about a new film that explores the issues concerning gas well drilling around the country, getting stories on NPR and elsewhere. Below is my description of the film that I will use to create my 2011 list of “New Films on WV and Appalachia” for Goldenseal magazine next summer. (I did watch a screener of the film last week.) Read the rest of this entry »
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June 7, 2010 by steve fesenmaier

Pare Lorentz, born in Clarksburg, raised in Buckhannon, was the first enviromental filmmaker. His films are still some of the best ever made about the environment, and The Great Depression. His son, Pare Lorentz Jr., whom I knew by phone (unlike his father, whom I had breakfast with in NYC), died this last weekend in Kentucky.
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May 26, 2010 by steve fesenmaier
Photo by Tom Fitzsimmons/John F. Kennedy Library Foundation
An essay by Michael Reed, a young man from Tennessee, won the $ 10,000 prize for the best essay by a high school student about a politician with courage. It was about Congressman Ken Hechler who was flown to the presidential library last Sunday, had dinner with the boy’s family on Sunday night, and sat next to Caroline Kennedy during the Monday breakfast honoring the “Profiles in Courage” winners plus the essay by the high school student. Read the rest of this entry »
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