Notes Regarding Production of WV PBS’
The Winding Gulf: Stories from West Virginia’s Coalfields
Premiere, 8 p.m., Sunday, March 4, 2012

Produced by West Virginia Public Broadcasting, this program offers a cautionary tale, examining the impact of industry upon a particular place and the people, who live, work, profit and die there.

The one-hour documentary also serves as a vehicle through which to examine how the state’s coal mining communities historically respond to environment, circumstance and tragedy, while working toward a bright future for generations to come.

Though primarily concerned with coal camp life in eastern Wyoming and western Raleigh Counties, the saga of the Winding Gulf Coalfield reflects the story of West Virginia and efforts by its people to improve life throughout the state.

The story of the Gulf also readily lends itself to better understanding a way of life experienced by families still living in southern West Virginia’s coalfields, thus fostering a better appreciation of what makes this region and its people unique.

Courage, commitment and human struggle, amid dreams of a better life as envisioned by the southern blacks, European immigrants and local farmers, who came together here, early in the 20th Century, are common themes.

In addition, this program may serve as the first in a series under the title Stories from West Virginia’s Coalfields, designed to:
1) Explore the history of particularly unique coalfield communities;
2) Document how families of diverse ethnicity and culture relate to one another;
3) Assess the role of a given community as a whole in dealing with the very personal struggles of its members from day to day and in time of tragedy;
4) Examine the impact of coal mine disasters and other significant events upon these communities as a whole;
5) Illustrate current community life in these coalfields;
6) Examine efforts to improve the local economy, in this instance, through tourism and promotion of the Winding Gulf’s coal heritage.

Through The Winding Gulf, producers attempt to explore the region’s history with depth and sensitivity, giving voice to the region’s people through fresh, candid perspective.

Despite the danger and tragedy inherent to mining coal, residents offer fond, intimate memories laced with community pride, while looking to the future with optimism and hope. Those featured include fiddler and US Senator Robert C. Byrd and fellow musicians, Grammy winner Bill Withers and the Grand Ole Opry’s Little Jimmy Dickens.

The Winding Gulf also offers compelling, archival images, illustrating coal mining and community life here during much of the 20th Century. Among the most illuminating are home movies filmed in and around the community of Helen. The footage appears in the documentary, courtesy Randy Hunt and the Placidi family.

“Back in the mid-1930s, the Placidi brothers, sons of Italian immigrants, Virgil, Amerigo, Romulus and Demetrius (commonly known as Virgil, Poochie, Lado and Charlie), pooled what money they had and purchased a hand cracked, 16mm movie camera. According to Charlie, they would save enough money to purchase film, take turns shooting and then save enough money to have the film developed. Through the late 1930′s and into the early 1940′s, the brother captured video on everything from coal camp baseball to men working at the tipple to people walking around Helen, West Virginia.”

“The developed movie film was stored in a WWII ammo box,” adds Hunt. “Around 1993, I was in the basement of my father-in-law, Lado’s home when he asked if I wanted this box. I opened it up and pulled a reel of film out that had “1937″ written on it. He also gave me a 16mm projector that was setting beside it. I took both boxes home, plugged in the projector, put on a reel of film and, to my surprise, the light came on and the projector worked just fine!”

Producer Jessica Y. Lilly grew up in the Wyoming County community, Itmann, named for banker coal baron Isaac T. Mann. Lilly explains what first inspired her to approach the subject of the Winding Gulf Coalfield.

“I wanted to showcase the amazing ability of Southern West Virginians to adapt and overcome. The rich history of the Winding Gulf deserves to be documented and I suspect today’s struggles are in many ways similar to those of yesterday.”

A graduate of Concord University, Lilly served as a producer and reporter at WVNS-TV in Beckley, before joining West Virginia Public Broadcasting. Lilly has also produced stories for NPR and reported for radio broadcasts heard in New York and Canada.

Producer Russ Barbour spent much of his youth in Wilkinson, a coal camp in Logan County: “One thing I’ve learned over the course of this production is that it takes more than growing up in coal country to fully appreciate coal mining and the culture surrounding it.”

Barbour produced Reconstructing Bill: The Story of Governor William C. Marland, named Best Documentary Feature during the 2009 West Virginia Filmmakers Festival. Attendees also honored Barbour as Filmmaker of the Year.

Employed by West Virginia Public Broadcasting for more than 30 years, Barbour co-produced Ken Hechler: In Pursuit of Justice (named WV Film’s 2008 Film of the Year) and West Virginians Remember World War II (2008 recipient of an Ohio Valley Regional Emmy Award for Best Nostalgia Program). Barbour also produced Upheaval: The Story of the New River Gorge in 2010.

Jessica Y. Lilly may be reached at 304-384-5981 and  jlilly at wvpubcast.org. Russ Barbour may be reached at 304-544-0908 (cell) and  rbarbour at wvpubcast.org.

Photo courtesy of WV State Archives

Mari-Lynn Evans of “The Appalachians” and “Coal Country” fame will introduce her newest film – “Hawks Nest – Blood Beneath Our Feet” at the Cultural Center.

I have been a member of Film Independant since the mid-nineties. Each year, we vote for Spirit Awards which recognizes the best categories in Independant film.
Film Independant also presents on-line seminars on all aspects of the indy film process.
This year ,for the first time, FI is sending out screeners on all their nominated films for those that are not in geographic areas and also for any film that you just missed.

 It is 95$ for the year and includes constant communication from their web site and advice for any member plus you get to vote for the best indy films for that year. It is an invaluble for any filmmaker wanting to keep up with all aspects of the process. But now, with the free screeners, one can watch any of a long list of films not screened in WV.
Hope this is helpful.
Mike Lilly

Josh called me last night. He was afraid since the House Committee tried unsuccessfully to remove me, that he would be arrested at this fracking hearing today.

 Josh and my films got us both on the Homeland Security Terrorist Watch List. Now this censorship. This is scary. I can put anyone in contact w Josh.

Thanks for any help,

ML 330-867-7443

Ken Ward Jr. (The Charleston (WV) Gazette Newspaper and “Coal Tattoo” blog:

I attended a House hearing here in Charleston last year,(Sept, 29, 2011) where the GOP leadership tried to keep “Coal Country” filmmaker Mari-lynn Evans from shooting video of the official proceedings. She complained, and I objected to committee staff — they eventually backed down. It’s dangerous when Congress starts kicking out journalists. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/01/house-republicans-order-j_n_1246971.html?ref=tw

10. The Muppets.
Family/Comedy
Directed by: James Bobin
Perhaps the most inconsistent film on my list, Jason Segel’s relaunching of the classic franchise represents one of my favorite cinematic experiences of the year. The film oscillates between unashamed nostalgic sentimentality and wry witty self-referenciality. It’s a film that is only about 60% successful, but those 60% are so winning, it makes up for the film’s weaker moments. In a weird way, the film I would compare it to the most is Airplane! if only because of the barrage of jokes that is packed into a surprisingly short running time, and it isn’t afraid to be silly. It is what it is, and that’s good enough for me.

9. The Skin I Live In
Foreign/Thriller/Horror
Directed by: Pedro Almodovar
Easily the strangest film of 2011, Pedro Almodovar’s unnerving thriller takes the Spanish Auteur’s favorite themes of love, violence and gender identity to the most maddening of extremes. Antonio Banderes stars as a mad scientist who appears to be keeping a young woman prisoner as he experiments on grafting onto her an unbreakable skin. However, the underlying story becomes more complicating, windind, and surprising, leading up to one of the most horrifying revelations in recent cinematic history. One of Almodovar’s best films in almost a decade.

8. Certified Copy
Foreign/Drama
Directed by: Abbas Kiarostami
A strange, labrynthian formal exercise from Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami stars simple enough. An author of a book on artistic forgeries meets a woman in a small italian villa and the two share a day as he waits for his train. However, as the film morphs their relationship with an abrupt and inexplicable shift in their relationship. There’s no calling ‘bullshit’ on this film either, as you can feel the steady and consistant hand of Kiarostami guiding each shot. This film plays squarely into my sweet spot with its combination of formal experimentation and narrative ambiguity. I adore how enigmatic this film is. No matter how many times you watch it, its puzzle can never be completely explained. In this way, it ultimately gives the audience a unique ownership over the narrative.

7. Rubber
Thriller/Experimental
Directed by: Quintin Dupieux
2011 has often been dubbed as the year of films about films. Rubber has done the world one better. Rubber is a film about film language. Rubber is a film about psychoanalytic film theory. Its a film about violence in the media. Yet ultimately, its a film about a disembodied tire who goes around killing people through psychochenisis. Its a film that can be equally enjoyed y scholars and underground grindhouse audiences alike for completely different reasons. Its a film that actually turns deep complex theses on the role of voyurism in cinema into wildly funny, ballsout batty entertainment. I cannot wait to watch this film again.

6. Hugo
Children’s/Fantasy
Directed by: Martin Scorsese
When WV film buff Jeff Bradley reccomended this film to me as the beginning of a new phase of 3D filmmaking. While the aesthetics problems of of 3D aren’t completely solved in this film, I cannot argue with the fact that Hugo is groundbreaking film that realizes the potential of 3D as an artistic medium. Martin Scorsesce’s most groundbreaking film. Once again, the greatest master of the medium of our time has pushed himself in directions to potentially redefine cinema’s future in what is ultimately a film about the history of cinema. Fans of the early days of cinema around the world have been overjoyed to see Scorsesce give pioneer filmmaker George Milies posthumous immortality. Like all Scorsese films, I feel deeply lucky to have been alive to see it in theaters. Yet unlike many more of his recent efforts, its easy to see this being heralded as a landmark film for decades to come.

5. Cold Weather
Drama/Thriller/Mystery
Directed by: Aaron Katz
This lesser seen mumblecore/film noir has stuck with me much more than I could have possibly imagined. A truly unique take on the detective genre that delves into the reality of what it would be like if someone just decided to solve a mystery. The films verisimilitude consistanty subverts expectations of what happens in a detective film leading up to its enigmatic ending. The characters are often frustratingly innert, but the film uses their lack of charisma to its advantage. The film boasts some of the most unique relationships among characters I’ve seen this year, particularly the central brother/sister relationship. Unlike most of the other mumblecore films, the film has a true visual beauty. The camerawork brings out the majesty of the Pacific Northwest with consistent tones of blue and green. This beauty often dwarfs the films character in a way that brings out a certain existential distance between the audience and the action and reinforces the smallness of characters coming to terms with their lack of specialness.

4. Moneyball
Drama
Directed by: Bennet Miller
Moneyball is the best film adaptation I’ve seen of a book since Cold Mountain. There is no reason that the story of the application of Sabremetrics to a mid-market baseball team should be so compelling. Yet director Bennet Miller and scribes Aaron Sorkin and Steve Zallian take this story and turn it into a film about tenacity. The narrative of the cantankerous individual fighting to apply revolutionary approaches against a system averse to change resonates with me deeply. Brad Pitt is the perfect vessel for Oakland A’s GM Billy Bean, and it is his relationship with Peter Brand (Jonah Hill) that makes the film. In only two films Bennet Miller has positioned himself to be one of the most capable prestige directors working in mainstream hollywood. The best mainstream wide release of 2011.

3. Win/Win.
Comedy/Drama
Directed by: Tom McCarthy
Tom McCarthy has been the most consistantly wonderful writer/director of the last 10 years. Both 2003′s “The Station Agent” and 2008′s “The Visitor” both made my top 10 lists of their respected year. His characters have a sweet honesty and melancholy that would put even Alexander Payne to shame. With Win/Win he may have made his most accomplished film to date. Its a film about the fluid nature of families, the bond of friendship, and the difficulty of doing the right thing. Its also wildly funny and deeply moving. McCarthy populates his world with characters that you think you know yet constantly surprise you. I’m consistently astonishsed with how much love and grace he expresses for every single one of his characters. Paul Giamatti has never been better.

2. Tree of Life
Drama
Directed by: Terrence Malick
I believe increasingly the greatest films capture and create a collective consciousness and shares it with the viewer. Perhaps no film achieves this goal with more grace than Terrence Malick’s masterpiece “The Tree Of Life.” The Tree Of Life A film which uses the creation of the universe as a metaphor for man’s relationship with god, it is a film capable of eliciting in audience members emotions and responses that we often forgot we were capable of. The film deals primarily with the existential crisis of childhood, that period of time where we are still young enough to not be separated in years from our own moment of creation. In a way, this is a film which attempts to reunite us with that moment of birth. The result is overpowering, gorgeous, occasionally troubling. Any film which aspires to give us God on celluloid deserves to be lauded. The disciplined deliberate pace gives us conciousness never making it easy on us, the film just lets us exist in its pre-fall eden of Waco, Texas then expanding this story to the creation of the universe.

1. Senna
Documentary
Directed By: Asif Kapadia
In a year that has seen filmmakers increasingly looking backward in time for their stories, there has been a surprising lack of self awareness to the year in film. Perhaps this is what drew me into the sublime transcendence of this touching British documentary. Senna tells the story of Brazillian Formula 1 racing sensation Ayerton Senna from his rise to prominence, to his tragic in-race death. Consisting entirely of archive footage, the films exhilarating pace shows Senna’s arc from a cocky and often reckless maverick to self-actualized individual coming to terms with his own flaws willing to embrace the folk hero status his homeland of Brazil bestowed on him. Auto racing remains the only sport where the possibility of watching someone die live on television still exists, and the film never makes light of this. In the film’s final act, Ayerton becomes a vehicle for all of man’s struggle with mortality, as we watch him wrestle with issues of safety, leading up to his in-race death. The film effectively ties this struggle with Senna’s identity as a Catholic. In the end, Senna, like all of us, is forced to come to terms with the fact that no matter how fast he races his car, he can’t outrun death. In a strange way, I see this film as a psychic cousin to films like “Black Swan” and “Brian’s Song” where we see individuals who in pursuit of their craft, sacrifice the only thing of value they have – their life.
Of course, this makes the film sound unbearably solemn. Its not. The film’s razor sharp editing and melodramatic music score create the most exciting cinematic experience of 2011. It is a very special film that is able to draw out suspense in a 20 year old sports drama using old ESPN footage, but that’s exactly what “Senna” does.

Honorable Mentions: Girl With A Dragon Tattoo, The Fat Boy Chronicles, Midnight In Paris, Bullmouth, The Descendants, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

Top 5 Documentaries of 2011
1. Senna
2. Cave of Forgotten Dreams
3. Tabloid
4. Being Elmo
5. Bill Cunningham: New York

Best Film Not Coming To a Theater Near You: The Fat Boy Chronicles

1.My Week with Marilyn
2. Hugo – great film by Martin Scorsese about a young boy.
3. War Horse – I have the ultimate sympathy for animals who have been sacrificed by humans, like in wars and coal mines.
4. We Bought a Zoo – touching story about family loss.
5. The Ides of March – best political film in a long time.
6. The Help – very well done adaptation of the instant classic novel.
7. Drive – great action film with Ryan Gosling who also did very well in “Idees.”
8. The Last Mountain – indeed, the most polished film on MTR to date.
9. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – great acting, visuals, and story.
10. Crazy, Stupid, Love – Ryan Gosling again…

Since he sees more films, especially new ones, in NYC and elsewhere, I feel that his Top Ten list is more interesting than my own which I will work on this week.

Tree of Life (US)
Midnight in Paris (US)
Certified Copy (France)
A Separation (Iran)
Melancholia (Czech Republic)
Mysteries of Lisbon (France)
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Belgium)
Tuesday, After Christmas (Romania)
Meeks Cutoff (US)
Pina (Germany)

Special Notes:

1) Edward Yang’s 1991 masterwork “A Brighter Summer Day” was finally
released in this country in 2011. I first saw it at MoMA  in 2000 when
 ”Yi Yi”  from was released. A marvelous 4 hour picture.
2) “Cave of Forgotten Dreams” is Werner Herzog’s documentary on the
32,000 year old cave drawings in France. While the film’s narration
was cumbersome, the images are spellbinding.
3) Film event of the year was the Film Society’s retrospective of
Edward Yang, who died in 2007.
4) Two pictures that were on quite a lot of ten lists, “Hugo” and
“Drive”, I found extremely flat and uninvolving.
5) The most interesting acting I saw all year was Albert Brooks in the
otherwise forgettable “Drive.”
6) The fourth season of “Breaking Bad” was better than 99% of the
movie released.
7) 76% of the movie gross receipts in the US were from: comic books,
cartoon and sequels.

 Patrick Felton, director of the WV Filmmakers Festival, sent me his list of best WV films so here it is. Thanks to both for loving films as much as I do.
Top 10 WV Films of 2011. 

We are once again at the time where we take stock of everything that has occurred in the last year. I think its been a relatively good year for WV Films. We continue to see new voices emerge, particularly in the once sparse genre of narrative feature filmmaking. We’ve seen old standbys in our community continue to produce, while other newer artists are also stepping up to the plate. What follows is a brief survey of some of my favorite films that our state has produced in the last 365 days. It is by no means definitive, but I hope it causes you the reader to seek some of these titles out via your local libraries and interwebs as they become more available. 
10 Doggone!

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(Narrative Short)

Directed by Jan Bezoushka

This may be a clear case of me not giving a film a fair chance on first glance. The first time I saw this thesis project from West Virginia State University Media Studies graduate Jan Bezouska, I dismissed it as a Desperate Housewives ripoff. Upon second viewing, I still have major reservations. However, I have found much to admire in this film. The gorgeous, slick cinematography meshes well with a dark comedy being attempted. The film boasts many of the Kanawha Valley’s best acting talents including Brian Roller as a neurotic costume party guest. Bezouska has a special talent for art design and clearly put a lot of thought into the color and look of  everything in this film Also, rumored to have cost over $5,000, one wonders how Mr Bezouska got his film made, given the current financial problems that West Virginia State University has been facing. Hats off to all involved.

9 We Pull Together 

(Documentary Feature)

Directed by: BJ Gudmundsson

Two of my favorite documentarians in the state – BJ Gudmundsson  and Tijah Bumgarner – came togather fo an incredibly special film this year about the true stories of all the living Rosie The Riveters remaining in West Virginia. Sponsored by “Thanks! Plain And Simple”  A poignant, touching, and ultimately powerful tribute to the women in our state who sacrificed families, careers and even their health to help protect the free world. 

8 Pocahontas County Children: A Visual Diary

(Documentary Short)

Directed by: Dave Brock and Justin Litton

<iframe src=”http://player.vimeo.com/video/25214082?title=0&amp;byline=0&amp;portrait=0” width=”400″ height=”225″ frameborder=”0″ webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe><p><a href=”http://vimeo.com/25214082“>Pocahontas County Children: A Visual Diary</a> from <a href=”http://vimeo.com/jeezny“>Justin Litton</a> on <a href=”http://vimeo.com“>Vimeo</a>.</p>

Directed by: Justin Litton and Dave Brock

What began is a grant project between the West Virginia State University extension office and the Pearl S. Buck museum in Pocohantas county became a surprisingly poignant look at the intersection of isolation and technology among our state’s youth. Filmmakers Justin Litton and Dave Brock were hired to teach 10 children from Hillsboro WV how to use flip cams to document their lives for a week, including trips to school, Droop Mountain battlefield, and the aforementioned birthplace of Pearl Buck. The resulting film is a touching, intriguing and often hilarious look at the minds and lives of a new generation of West Virginians in one of the state’s most isolated regions. Litton and Brock captured lightning in a bottle, documenting a unique moment in the lives of these children’s but also in this state as well. It reminds me of my own lazy sunday excursions up 219 into Pocohantas county We wish both Mr. Brock and Mr. Litton farewell as their paths lead them away from WV in 2012 towards greener pastures. 

7. The Game

- Documentary Short

Directed by: Robert Tinnell

Veteran filmmaker Bob Tinnell had tried to get his story of the little league football coach that taught him the importance of winning and losing as a feature film for almost a decade before deciding to film it himself as a creative nonfiction documentary. This was clearly the correct decision, as Tinnell captures some of the most memorable and powerful images shot in WV this entire year. This is on par with any of the short  video essays on football which ESPN Films has produced over the last 2 years, and Mr. Tinnell, the 2011 WV Filmmaker Of The Year, perhaps has finally reached a level of intimacy with the medium which will continue his reign as the state’s premiere filmmaker for another decade.

6. AI Means Love

The third feature from Lightsmith Productions in the eastern panhandle, AI Means Love is something unique among West Virginia films. It deals with 2 underrepresented populations in our art: Immigrants and Christians. Director/Producer team of Mie and SunJae smith manage to make their deeply personal story of interracial relationships among a family of Japanese Christian immigrants in Martinsburg into a charming, funny, and heartwarming tale of staying true to one’s identity. The film ties the Japansese christian experience to the familiar background of Samurai films, and some of the films best moments come when these two threads are balanced. The script by Katie Tsubata is so adorable I just want to hug it. Individuals looking for a break from the series of deeply cynical, bleak, and nihilistic indepentant films will be refreshed by the film’s warm spirit and earnest tone. As West Virginia changes, hopefully we’ll continue to see such positive voices as the folks at Lightsmith Pro.

5. The Last Mountain

<iframe width=”560″ height=”315″ src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/c5wmUkpOCKE” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe>

At the risk of oversimplifying things, I think The Last Mountain may be the best film about Mountain Top Removal ever made. While previous films nailed the urgency of the problem, they often lacked the distance that filmmaker  has due. Because he lenses one of the state’s biggest hot topics through the lens of the outsider he ultimately finds a level of objectivity about the situation. That’s not to say the film isn’t one-sided. It’s clearly pro-mountain, if only by the virtue that he invests the time in the film to give the viewer the epic arial shots neccesary to show the scope of destruction occuring in the Locan County area. Hopefully this film will reach an audience on DVD that the more shrill voices of previous documentaries may have scared off. 

4. The Deposition

Directed by Edward Mensore

One of the great stories of the last year has been the rise of independent filmmaking in WV’s Northern panhandle in the wake of Super 8. Chief amount these films was the poetic and often opaque thriller “The Deposition” Hollywood screenwriter Edward Mensore came home to New Martinsville to film his passion project about a black factory worker who is facing an involuntary manslaughter charge for a vehicular homeside he can’t remember. The film replays the film in his mind a million times. Reminiscant of smaller psychological thrillers like “The Invisible” and “Stir Of Echoes” the film almost sustains its suspense the entire film before collapsing under its own weight in the third real. Still, the messiness and emotional rawness of this film redeems it. Mensore layers on a suprising amount of racial overtones to the film in ways we’ve rarely seen in WV cinema. Look for more great things from Mr. Mensore in the future. The Narrative debut of the year.

3. Romeo Must Hang

Directed by: Bob Wilkinson

The story of Harry Powers has haunted the small community of Quet Dell, WV for almost 80 years, yet few people today even know the story of one of the serial killers who inspired the film “Night Of The Hunter”. Veteran PBS documentarian Bob Wilkinson takes on the story from a chilling approach, instead of focusing on the man, Wilkinson places his lens squarely on the myth of Harry Powers. Using an unsettling blend of archival photos, insightful interviews, and chilling reenactments, Wilkinson has created one of the most poignant, chilling, and terrifying documents of society’s fascination with evil. Having seen this film now 3 times, twice with an audience, it never ceases to unnerve me. 

2. Lincoln County Massacre

For me, Elaine Mcmillion is THE discovery of the 2011 WV Filmmakers Festival. Winner of the 2011 Audience Choice and Director’s Choice awards from the WV Filmmakers Festival, McMillion’s debut feature documentary has stayed with me far beyond its brisk 60 minute running time. Telling the story of the 1980 brutilazation of members of the Brothers Of The Wheel motorcycle club by WV State Troopers, McMillion tells the ultimate underdog system of individuals fighting the system for the simple dignity of their right to be. Like all good documentaries, brings light to an important story that few knew and then presents it with methodical precision. McMillion’s journalistic background shows through and the film manages a level of credibility that elevates the film past its subject. I expect great things from Ms. McMillion as she continues to present the hidden stories which are still worth telling.

1. Super 8
Directed by: J. J. Abrams

In what has been described as a quantum leap for WV’s film industry, Super 8 brought Hollywood to WV and became a surprise hit of the 2011 summer box office. What is left out of this discussion is how great this film actually is. It is JJ Abrams best film ever, and its among the best mainstream studio releases of the calendar year. Any individual who has ever had that first experience of playing with the camera and creating something special will relate to the story of children making a short movie on a Super 8 camera only to discover deeper adventure than they could have possibly imagined. Critics have cited this as a pastiche and tribute to the early 80s films of Joe Dante and Stephen Spielberg, and in a way it is. However, Super 8 is very much a film of this moment. Its plot is almost a love letter to the youtube generation of filmmakers,  trumpeting the witless eyes of child filmmakers without training and means as individuals capable of saving the planet. Much like 2008′s “Son Of Rambow” “Super 8″ recognizes the value of its filmmaker protagonists, regardless of whether or not they have any talent. This is an ethos that sums up the entire year in WV Filmmaking, and it is as true of budgetless films made in Charleston and Parkersburg as it is of Weirton’s new claim to fame. 

Honorable Mentions: Memory Lane,  Noil: The Fuel Of Tomorrow, Delirifacients, Sausage Legs, Give Up The Fuzz, Plane Talking, Encounter Attack

Did not See: Doughboy, Pom Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold

Most Promising Trailer of 2012 film: One Soldier, One Grave

Achievement in Music Videos: Can’t Stand Another Day

Bill Posner Award for Worst WV Movie Of The Year: Zombie Babie

Dr. Fred Pollock and the Federated Jewish Charities of Charleston are sponsoring another evening of new films about the Jewish experience on Sunday, January 22. They plan on showing two films including an excellent film I previewed, “Live and Become.” The first film is yet to be chosen.

“Live and Become” is a French/Israeli film, shot entirely in Israel about an Ethiopian boy who disguises himself as an Ethiopian Jew in order to escape famine. He emigrates to Israel and ends up adopted by an Israeli family, eventually becoming a MD in Paris.

The film was very well done from acting to cinematography and is honest about prejudice in Israel. The young boy, 9 at the beginning, has a very difficult time and really misses his mother. It is one of the better films I have seen this year and highly recommend it to everyone, not just the Jewish community. Hopefully, Charleston’s black community will come to see the free showing as well.

I will post information on the second film when it is chosen. Kudos to Dr. Pollock and the Jewish Charities for continuing to bring world-class cinema to Charleston.

John Lilly published a shortened list of films on WV music - below are two lists that I have made, one in 2007 and a more recent one. You can see there are many, many films on WV musicians.

Additions made since 2007

BLIND ALFRED REED 

2010  25mins.    WVPBS 

 Blind Alfred Reed was one of WV’s first nationally recognized singer/musicians. Starting in 1927, his recordings were distributed nationally. Few people including West Virginians know anything about the Hinton resident who supported his family using his musical skills. This film was made in conjunction with the WV Music Hall of Fame and Goldenseal magazine. Editor John Lilly narrates the amazing life of Mr. Reed. The WVMHF released a CD of his work  in 2007  after he was inducted into the WV Music Hall of Fame. Tim O’Brien, Kathy Matea, Larry Groce, Michael Lipton and others comment on the importance of Reed’s music.  Directed by veteran WVPBS director/producer John Nakashima. Access: WVPBS

BERNARD CYRUS – ANCIENT SOUNDS & WILD ORCHIDS

2008   74 mins. Augusta Heritage Productions, Davis & Elkins College

West Virginia Filmmaker of the Year Gerald Milnes continues his documenting of West Virginia’s many talented musicians. Bernard Cyrus lives in Wayne County, West Virginia. He is a musicians, instrument maker, hunter, gardener, tale teller, old-time person and avid regional botanist. “Ancient Sounds” is a term he uses to describe the music he likes and plays. He also loves wild orchids. He has taken photographs of the wild orchids and many other wonders of his beloved West Virginia hills.

Official website – http://www.augustaheritage.com/store.html

STILL BILL 

2009      90 mins.  Slab Fork Productions

Bill Withers  was born in Slab Fork, Raleigh County. He is the author of many of the best known songs written in America since WWII including “Ain’t No Sunshine,” “Lean on Me,” “Lovely Day” and “Just The Two of Us.” He was inducted in to the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame in its first group in fall 2007. Everyone knows his songs but know little about a man who  had a major influence on American popular music.  Dr. Cornel West, Sting and others are interviewed along with Withers and his family and friends. Website – http://www.stillbillthemovie.com/

WEST VIRGINIA MOUNTAIN MUSIC

2009  40 mins. Dwight Diller

There is no spoken word on this video. Its voice is banjo and fiddle. Its subject is nature. There is no human presence except that of the music. It is about the stark beauty of nature in its own setting. 19th century style banjo and fiddle tunes from the earliest settlers, music endemic to these WV mountains, forms a matrix for their timeless natural history. Bates & Jody Littlehales have spent several years finding, filming, and editing footage of the mountains of Pendleton & Pocahontas Counties. The video follows the seasons from earliest spring into winter. Bates and Jody are both retired from long careers with National Geographic. The North American Nature Photography Association recently gave Bates a lifetime achievement award.

For Dwight’s students the DVD has a music menu to navigate to individual tunes. And for those interested in location and species identification there is an option for subtitles.  Access: 
Elaine Maxham Diller, Morning Star Folk Arts, HC 64 Box 415, Hillsboro, WV 24946
304.653.4397, ediller@gmail.com

WEST VIRGINIA MUSIC HALL OF FAME CEREMONY

2007 120 mins. WVMHF

On November 16, 2007, The West Virginia Music Hall of Fame inducted its first class of members. They were – George Crumb, Hazel Dickens, Little Jimmy Dickens, Billy Edd Wheeler, Bill Withers, Leon “Chu” Berry, Johnnie Johnson, Clark Kessinger, Molly O’Day, and Blind Alfred Reed. Ann Magnuson, born in Charleston, was the master of ceremonies as guests including Kathy Mattea, Alison Krauss and others joined her. A sold out audience at the WV State Cultural Center joined Governor Manchin and many others celebrating just a few of the many world-class musicians who have been born or raised in the Mountain State. The WVMHF also released a DVD of music written by Blind Alfred Reed, “Always Lift Him Up – A Tribute to Blind Alfred Reed.” To purchase –for a $15 donation to the WVMHF, you will be given a copy of the DVD. Contact Michael Lipton, (304)342-4412, e-mail mlipton@gmail.com.

WEST VIRGINIA MUSIC HALL OF FAME CEREMONY

2008  120 mins. WVMHF

On November 6, 2008,  The West Virginia Music Hall of Fame inducted its second  class of members. They were –  The Lilly Brothers, Frankie Yankovic, Red Sovine, Charlie McCoy, Ann Baker, Wilma Lee and Stoney Cooper, Maceo Pinkard, Phylis Curtin, and Robert Drasnin. Hosted by Charleston native Ann Magnuson and “Mountain Stage” host Larry Groce, the people of West Virginia paid tribute to a second group of musicians who have influenced music worldwide. Biographies of the musicians are posted at – http://www.wvmusichalloffame.com/inductees2008.html.  To purchase –for a $15 donation to the WVMHF, you will be given a copy of the DVD. Contact Michael Lipton, (304)342-4412, e-mail mlipton@gmail.com.

CHARLESTON  THE  OPERA

2008        90 mins.  Squonk Opera

 As part of Charleston’s annual arts festival, “FestivALL,” Squonk Opera of Pittsburgh was commissioned to produce a portrait of the city. David Wohl of WVSU hired local filmmakers to interview local people, mixing the footage with more artistic footage of the city’s monuments and spaces. Three local dance groups performed their own choreography on stage and students from Piedmont Elementary colored “imagination maps” of the city which were then animated into a video sequence. This art event was NOT a film but rather a performance art piece with about 20 minutes of film footage used in the multi-media event. The world premiere took place at The WV Cultural Center on June 21, 2008. Website – http://www.festivallcharleston.com/ Access: None for the film. Music used in the event is available at the Squonk Opera website http://www.squonkopera.org/store.html. The title is “You Are Here.”

FIDDLIN’ WAYNE STRAWDERMAN

2005 28 min. Real Earth Productions

Wayne Strawderman has been entertaining folks with his fiddle and mandolin playing

for over 50 years. This film tells about his early life growing up in Mathias, WV, the

musical influences in his life, and the “good home fellowship” that characterizes him

and his music. The film contains archival photographs, excerpts of Wayne Strawderman

playing fiddle tunes at the Lost River Museum and with his popular band The Trout

Pond Pickers, and commentary from his good friend and band mate Ralph Hill. Access:

Real Earth Productions, ” title=”http://www.augustaheritage.com/store.html.” target=”_blank”>http://www.augustaheritage.com/store.htm…

Small Town Beats

7 mins. 2006

WVPBS producer/news reporter Anna Sale and former Morgantown filmmaker Michael T. Miller (editor, “Correct Change,” lots more) team up to profile Chris Kessel (aka 95, G-Mode, Suge White), a white young man who has become a leading promoter of original hip-hop music in Charleston, West Virginia. The focus is an impending WV Entertainers Convention where Kessel and his friends presented their music at the Pour House in North Charleston. He graduated from WVSU and became a father the week after the event. Website – WVWrapscene.com. Access – Anna Sale at WVPBS.

MUSIC OF HEAVEN – OLD TIME MUSIC FROM THE COAL RIVER COUNTY 2006   60 mins. Augusta Heritage Center

This film by 2006 WV Filmmaker of the Year Gerry Milnes is about the extraordinary talents of William Sherman “Junior” Holstein. His nephew and apprentice, Gary Wayne Jordan, introduces us to Junior who plays some rare and beautiful old-time fiddle tunes. He sings several old songs, words to fiddle tunes, and one original song to his own musical accompaniment. Junior visits with other traditional musicians in the area, describes old-time methods of making moonshine, and leads us through some of his own trials and tribulations as he battles personal demons. The title tune, “Music of Heaven,” a soulful instrumental, aptly relates to Junior’s fixation on his prospects for the afterlife. Access: Augusta Heritage at  http://www.augustaheritage.com/store.html

Movies on WV/Appalachian Musicians

Steve Fesenmaier August 29, 2007

Ken Hechler, who is presently working on a new book he calls “Faith, Hope and Parody” will include many of the musical parodies he has written since he began his life as a West Virginia politician in 1958. He began by getting four young coeds from Marshall to sing his own version of a popular song by the McGuire Sisters, “Sugar Time.” They had won a Marshall song contest by singing it. The new version went, “Hechler in the morning, Hechler in the evening, Hechler at election time….” Ken was a high school clarinet player, actually playing for guest conductor John Philip Sousa in person in 1930.  During high school he played in the American Legion band for $ 7/night. In his sophomore year at Swarthmore College, discovering there was no band, wrote personal handwritten letters to all the incoming freshmen men and the returning upperclassmen which led to the creation of its college band. Ken told me, “Music can get into a person’s soul a lot quicker than a lot of political palaver.”

Music is one of the most important forms of expression in West Virginia, perhaps more so because of its mountainous terrain and widely spaced population.   Between 1978 and 1997, as director of the WV Library Commission Film Services Division, I purchased every film about West Virginia and Appalachian music that I could find. Jim Andrews, the director of the WV Arts Commission in 1978, told me about George Crumb. Direct Cinema Ltd. had just released a film about him called “George Crumb: Voice of the Whale.” Sunrise Museum in Charleston screened the film and Rebecca Godfrey, a local music teacher, presented her copies of the amazing circular scores Crumb had created.

Gerry Milnes, the 2006 WV Filmmaker of the Year, has made many of the finest films about music in West Virginia. Robert Gates has also made two landmark films about music in WV – “The Morris Family Old Time Music Festival” and “Building a Cello with Harold.”

Several leading WV filmmakers besides Milnes are also very good musicians including 2004 WV filmmaker of the Year Ray Schmitt who played in his own blue grass band for decades and B.J. Gudmundsson, 2005 WV Filmmaker of the Year, who played in many bands. Ray also sponsors his own annual Ocktober Fest in Mathias, finally releasing a film about the event that now has a long history.

One independent feature film stands out as perhaps the most interesting film on WV music ever produced – “The Fifth String” starring Pocahontas County musician Dwight Diller. He plays a professor of classical music at a Philadelphia university who returns home for the funeral of his uncle who taught him to love mountain music.

There is a great new documentary about an amazing musician from WV, Daniel Johnston, who grew up in the northern panhandle, called ‘The Devil and Daniel Johnston.” As far as I know, the film has never been shown in WV.

Les Blank, a personal friend from decades ago, has made several films that including Appalachian musicians including Frankie Yankovich who is profiled in “In Heaven There is No Beer?” a film I personally worked on during its early days. He has also made   films about Julie and Tommy Jarrell. (His Tex-Mex film, “Chulas Fronteras,” is one of my favorite films of all-time.)

Hopefully The WV Music Hall of Fame will be able to present some of these films in the coming years.

To see the list visit my WV Film blog at – http://www.thegazz.com/gblogs/wvfilm/

To visit the WV Music Hall of Fame -

http://wvmusichalloffame.com/homepage.html

Available from the West Virginia Library Commission

AMERICAN PATCHWORK: APPALACHIAN JOURNEY

60 M. 1992 VHS PBS
Visit the birthplace of country music and meet it creators. Everyone from moonshiner to Kentucky coal miners, not to mention a whole array of expert banjo pickers, fiddle-players and guitar strummers. Listen to Davy Crockett’s favorite yarn. Hear the original ballad of Tom Dooley. Trace the growth of Southern mountain music, from the primitive mouth blow to red-hot bluegrass bands.

AN AMERICAN SONGSTER: JOHN JACKSON

30 mins. . 16 mm film only

 
A musical portrait of John Jackson, singer/guitarist and banjo player from Virginia. Jackson’s career is traced from discover in a gas station by folklorist Chuck Perdue to international recognition. Other performers include John Dee Holeman, Phil Wiggins and John Cephas. 

APPALACHIAN SPRING

31 M. B&W 1973 Phoenix 16MM
Themes of youth and joy, ritual and religion, and the love of a man and a women are presented through Martha Graham’s interpretation in dance and Aaron Copland’s music.

APPALSHOP SHOW

90 M. 1977 Appalshop 16MM
Appalshop, the most successful regional media center in America, takes a look at itself and its films. Excerpts from 12 Appalshop films are included along with many interviews. Appalshop was one of the most exciting new institutions at the beginning of the 70′s in Appalachia, along with the Foxfire books and other attempts at rejecting the popular stereotypes of Appalachia. Appalshop’s film emphasizes the value of tradition and the wisdom of the “older way” rather than the “new” techniques of mass society.

ARTS & LETTERS WITH RACHEL WORBY SERIES

VHS WNPB-TV
Includes the following:

MOUNTAIN THYME – 30 M., 5/31/92 – Combining Scottish and Irish cultural music with traditional instruments in a non-traditional way, Mountain Thyme revels in the haunting tones of Celtic music. Bonnie Tatterson, Peggy Longwell, Pat Epstein and Pam Curry are hugely talented women who are not only committed to playing great music, but to understanding and expressing it with great emotion. They sing in a three-part harmony, allowing the revealing Celtic music to touch the soul. Ageless themes of rousing comradely, love, lost, and adventures at sea are all prominent in the repertory of Mountain Thyme. This lilting music is sometimes played without accompaniment and sometimes with the “mountain sounds” of West Virginia, achieved from a blend of mandolin, banjo, guitar, bass, Bazuki and keyboard synthesizer.

MOLLIE & TIM O’BRIEN – 30 M., 8/22/93 – Tim and Mollie O’Brien, Wheeling’s brother and sister team, have captured a national reputation for the powerful country blues music and close vocal harmonies. “They are siblings blessed with a similar genetic soup,” says one Richmond, Virginia, critic, “resulting in voices that weave together and talents that soar.” In fact, their performance leaves their audience dancing on the Governor’s Mansion lawn.

MONTCLAIRE STRING QUARTET – 30 M., 11/15/93 – The Montclaire String Quartet, known as one of the country’s finest young chamber ensembles, leads the audience through an entertaining and enlightening history of music. Currently in residence with the West Virginia Symphony, the Quartet performs as principal string players of the orchestra as well as maintaining its own concert and touring schedule.

JULIE ADAMS AND THE RHINO BOYS – 30 M., 8/1/94 – The eclectic sounds of Julie Adams and the Rhino Boys whet your musical appetite. Led by Adams’ clear bluesy voice, this trio’s tunes range form sultry originals to funky pop and jazz favorites. You’ll recognize these fine musicians from their past performances on Mountain Stage and with some of West Virginia’s most loved musical groups.

J. MARK MCVEY – 30 M., 10/28/94 – Huntington native Mark McVey’s “melted gold” tones have scored big in productions such as Les Miserables, Chess, and My Fair Lady. A recipient of the Helen Hayes Award, McVey was the first American to play Les Miz‘ Jean Valjean in London’s West End. Bask in the sounds of Broadway as McVey delights his audience with old favorites and new hits from the stage.

STEWED MULLIGAN – 55 M. 10/6/95 – Formed in 1979, Stewed Mulligan includes Keith McManus, Pat McIntire, Ed Stamp, Jim Meckley and Joe Wack. As teachers and students of traditional Appalachian musical heritage, the group has traveled across the nation and overseas at festivals, dances and workshops performing its own special blend of traditional and nontraditional music. Some of Stewed Mulligan’s performances include the Philadelphia Folk Festival, The Augusta Heritage Arts Festival, The California Traditional Music Society Festival, and the Beskidy Highlander’s Week of Culture Festival in Poland. The group has three commercial recordings and has appeared several times on the nationally syndicated public show “Mountain Stage.” It also contributed music for video projects.

BALLAD OF A MOUNTAIN MAN

55 M. 1989 VHS PBS-TV
Bascom Lamar Lunsford loved Appalachian music and dance. Rooted in Scotch/English, African-American, Native American and other cultures, it is a rare amalgamation of styles that reflects the melting pot of America. Early in the 1920s, Lunsford sensed that Appalachian rural folk art might become an endangered species. As a pioneer folklorist, Lunsford began a campaign to preserve the unique music and dance of the people of Appalachia, giving them a dignity they never had before by staging the first folk music festival ever presented in this country. Co-produced by WSWP-TV of Beckley, WV. Some footage provided by WVLC-Film Services and WV. filmmaker Robert Gates. Part of “The American Experience Series” for PBS.

BANJO MAN

26 M. 1977 Texture 16MM
Prize-winning film narrated Taj Majal about life and music of John “Uncle” Homer Walker. Walker, the 80 year-old Summers County native, has been playing the banjo for 60 years.

BUILDING A CELLO WITH HAROLD

105 M. 1995 VHS/16MM Bob Gates
West Virginia native Harold Hayslett is a noted builder of violins and cellos. In this feature documentary film BUILDING A CELLO WITH HAROLD we follow the building of a cello from start to finish, taking it and some of Harold’s violins to the rare instrument collection in the Library of Congress to see how they stand up to the old masters. We learn of Harold’s understanding of wood and the woods as we search for the illusive “Curly” Maple tree. As the cello takes shape in his workshop we get to know Harold and understand his Appalachian inventiveness and craftsmanship, as well as his through knowledge of the instruments and lore of Stradivarius.

CATCHING UP WITH YESTERDAY

29 M. 1989 Catching Up with Yesterday, Inc.
Portrait of West Virginia instrument maker and musician Andrew F. Boarman-active bearer of folk tradition. Features segments on his unique banjo style, his virtuoso autoharp playing, and the construction of his masterfully crafted “Dixie Grand” banjos.

CRUMB: ANCIENT VOICES OF CHILDREN

1975       25 mins. 16 mm only

West Virginia native composer George Crumb sets the music for seven poems by Lorca, sung in Spanish by mezzo-soprano Jan De Gaetani accompanied by the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble and performed by the Dance Theater of Harlem.

A Different Drummer SERIES
29 M. (each) 1989 VHS WNPB-TV
Series includes:

AMAZING DELORES – 45-year-old Charlestonian, Delores Boyd has been dubbed “Amazing Delores” by musicians and audiences alike. A lady with a love for fashion, her voice has been likened to that of Janis Joplin with a phrasing of Van Morrison and an imagery similar to Captain Beefheart’s. She has the soul of Little Richard and the dance moves of Tina Turner.

DREADFUL MEMORIES: THE LIFE OF SARAH OGAN GUNNING

38 M. 1988 VHS Appalshop
Sarah Gunning was THE REAL THING! – - a hardscrabble lady who grew up in Appalachia THE HARD WAY! She lost her mom and a baby to starvation and found “capitalism.” She also wrote her own songs and became one of the founders of the contemporary folk music scene along with Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly.

Fiddles, Snakes, and Dog Days: Old-Time Music and Lore in West Virginia

1997  Augusta Heritage Center  60 M.  

West Virginia’s ancient folklore and traditional music are presented here in their natural context. Interviews are augmented with fiddle music as older residents relate tales, beliefs, and seasonal observances which have been shaped by time and handed down from generation to generation. It is directed by GOLDENSEAL contributor Gerald Milnes. Access: Augusta Store

FIDDLIN’ WAYNE STRAWDERMAN

2005 28 min.  Real Earth Productions

Wayne Strawderman has been entertaining folks with his fiddle and mandolin playing for over 50 years. This film tells about his early life growing up in Mathias, WV, the musical influences in his life, and the “good home fellowship” that characterizes him and his music. The film contains archival photographs, excerpts of Wayne Strawderman playing fiddle tunes at the Lost River Museum and with his popular band The Trout Pond Pickers, and commentary from his good friend and band mate Ralph Hill. Access: Real Earth Productions,  

Solo Fiddling from Central West Virginia. Leland Hall plays tunes and comments on his sources and inspirations through a 36-minute film. Ten tunes are also presented in slow motion, standard pitch, for learning purposes. Produced and directed by Gerald Milnes.   Access – Augusta Heritage Center Store - ” title=”http://www.augustaheritage.com/store.html” target=”_blank”>http://www.augustaheritage.com/store.htm…

MY OLD FIDDLE

16 M. 1994 16MM/VHS Flower Films
Featuring Tommy Jarrell (the second sequel to “Sprout Wings and Fly”). Filmed in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, this film portrait contains more of Tommy’s unpretentious folk wisdom and reminiscences. The soundtrack features his singing ad fiddling, spiced with a visit to the Smithsonian to test-drive an authentic Stradivarius violin. JARRELL, TOMMY: My Old Fiddle; NORTH CAROLINA: My Old Fiddle; COUNTRY MUSICIANS: My Old Fiddle; FIDDLERS: My Old Fiddle; VIOLIN: My Old Fiddle; APPALACHIA: My Old Fiddle.

NIMROD WORKMAN: TO FIT MY OWN CATEGORY

35 M. 1975 B&W 16MM/VHS Appalshop
Shows 78 year-old Nimrod Workman, a retired coal miner and singer who writes and performs songs and traditional ballads. He reminisces about life as a miner and sings traditional Appalachian songs.

OAKSIE

22 M. 1977 Appalshop
Basket maker, fiddler, and harp player, Oaksie Caudill from Cowan Creek, Letcher County, Ky., Oaksie makes a basket, showing the right way from the selection of the tree to the actual weaving process. His fiddle-playing and harp-playing are also shown

The Oktoberfest Gathering

95 minutes  2005

 For over 30 years filmmakers Ray and Judy Schmitt have been hosting an Oktoberfest Gathering at their farm in Mathias, WV.  The idea originated in 1974 when the Schmitt’s wanted to thank friends who helped them convert an old sheep barn into a weekend getaway.  Their friends invited other friends and when the children grew up and went away to college, many of them continued coming back each year.  People camp out for as many as 5 days in the meadow and the gatherings are highlighted by a potluck BBQ supper and bluegrass and acoustic jam sessions lasting late into the night.  In 2004 folks came from as far away as Washington State, Arizona, Nevada, Florida, New York, North Carolina, Vermont, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and DC, as well as many local West Virginians.  The 2004 Oktoberfest Gathering was celebrated with a “lawn concert” on a hay wagon and commemorative T-shirts.  Many fine musicians participated in this event which was recorded live.  The documentary also contains archival film and still photos from previous years.  Access: Real Earth Productions 

The Ralph Stanley Story

2000  Appalshop  82 M. 

The Stanley sound is true old-time, mountain style bluegrass music. This film tells Ralph’s story through interviews with Ralph, fellow musicians, and those who know Ralph best.  ”Rank Stranger,” “White Dove,” “Pretty Polly,” “Man of Constant Sorrow,” and over twenty other songs help tell the story.  Ralph performs with Dwight Yoakam, Patty Loveless, Junior Brown, Larry Sparks, George Shuffler, Ricky Skaggs, and members of the Clinch Mountain Boys. From the website – http://ns.appalshop.org/film/ralph.htm

RED, WHITE AND BLUEGRASS

27 M. 1974 Time-Life
This documentary concerns the heartland of America and its bluegrass music. Includes famous singers of bluegrass music-the Little Family of North Carolina, Lost John, the Brushy Mountain Boys and the Gritty Band.

SITTING ON TOP OF THE WORLD: AT THE FIDDLER’S CONVENTION

24 mins.   16 mm only.
Shows the Bluegrass Music Festival in the Smoke Mountains with both contemporary and traditional performances. 

SLEAZE FEST!

95 M. 1995 No Place Like Home Prod.
Top “Rock and Roll” acts live and in person! Nearly two hours of musical mayhem from the first Sleaze Fest, a two-day barrage of bands, barbecues, B-movies, and beer! Featuring vintage performances by: Southern Culture, On the Skids, Hasil Adkins, Hillbilly Frankenstein, The Woggles, The Subsonics, Dexter Romweber, The Bassholes, Family Dollar, Pharaohs, Chrome Daddy Disco and The Strychnine’s!

Songcatcher

2000  Facets Multimedia 109 M. 

From their catalog – Janet McTeer, an Oscar nominee for Tumbleweeds, turns in another wonderful performance in this film from the director of The Ballad of Little Jo. Passed over for a position in the male-dominated world of academia, a musicologist leaves the city to visit her sister in Appalachia. There she

discovers a world rich in its own musical traditions and romance with a local musician (Aidan Quinn). The soundtrack includes songs by Emmylou Harris, Rosanne Cash, Dolly Parton, Iris DeMent and more. Closed-captioned.

SOURWOOD MOUNTAIN DULCIMER

28 M. 16MM/VHS
Combining their common interest in regional music, their individual ability to play and make various instruments, and their distinctive music styles, two men sit among rough-hewn shacks and rampant summer greenery exploring the traditions of southern folk music.

STEP BACK CINDY

28 M. 10991 VHS Appalshop
Presents traditional dance in the mountains as fluid and changing, but with its own unique character. Locations visited include Fancy Gap, Dante and Chilhowie, Virginia. Dances include square dancing without callers, flatfoot and cake walk. Shows how the socializing aspect of folk dance can be valuable to the community. Appropriate for classes in dance, folklore, anthropology and rural sociology.

SUNNY SIDE OF LIFE

56 M. 16 mm only Appalshop
Presents traditional dance in the mountains as fluid and changing, but with its own

Jack Wright and other Appalshop filmmakers created this film about one of America’s leading musical families – the Carter family of southwest Virginia. It has produced many celebrities including Janette who has tried to establish a music and dance hall of honor in memory of her parents, A.P. and Sara, and her aunt Maybelle. The film explores the roles of music, family and tradition in the lives of Appalachians.

SWEET DREAMS

111 M. 1985 VHS
This powerful, true story of legendary country&western singer Patsy Cline. It chronicles her rise to fame and her passionate and stormy marriage to Charlie Dick (Ed Harris, Places in the Heart, Right Stuff, Alamo Bay). Partially filmed in Martinsburg, WV. Cast: Jessica Lange, Ed Harris, Ann Wedgeworth. Rated: PG-13.

TALKING FEET

90 M. 1988 VHS Mike Seeger/Ruth Pershing
This is the first documentary to be produced featuring flatfoot, buck, hoedown and rural tap dancing, the styles of solo Southern dancing which are a companion to old-time music and on which modern clog dancing was based. Shows Phoebe Parsons from Calhoun county and other West Virginians. Dances are done to hand-patting, talking blues, singing, old-time bluegrass and Western swing style of music.

TOMORROW’S PEOPLE

25 M. 1973 Appalshop
Presents mountain music – a sight and sound experience of mountain culture without narration. Includes a visual montage of old-time photographs accompanied by a dulcimer to a square dance in a one room school house high on a mountain in Kentucky.

TRUE FACTS…IN A COUNTRY SONG

28 M. 1979 Burt/Chadwick
A rare look at the life of a West Virginia music family. The Lilly Brothers found fame in Boston and Japan, returning to West Virginia after a son’s death. The true facts of an Appalachian family are revealed in their songs, including “Hide You in the Blood of Jesus,” “Sailor Boy,” “Come Early Morning,” “Sitting on Top of the World,” “We Shall Meet Again,” “Gathering Shells From the Seashore” and “What Will I Leave Behind.”

Twisted Laurel

1999  Augusta Heritage Center  30 M. 

The video, directed by folklorist Gerald Milnes, is a follow-up to Augusta’s 1997 Fiddles, Snakes, and Dog Days release. This installment focuses on the natural resources of the mountain forest and how West Virginians have utilized these resources in their folk culture. Examples include chair building, basketry, musical instrument construction, and herb gathering.

VANDALIA SAMPLER – PERFORMANCE IN WEST VIRGINIA

120 M. 1982-1987 VHS WNPB
Four programs created by Morgantown Public TV about leading performers in the Mountain State. Larry Croce, Stark Raven, Mime and Movement Festival and a reggae band in Morgantown.

VANDALIA – THE TRADITION CONTINUES

60 M. 1996 Elderberry Prod.
West Virginia and Friends of West Virginia have celebrated the Mountain State’s colorful heritage at the Vandalia Gathering each Memorial Day Weekend since 1977. This tape offers a sampler of the festival’s best. Watch as talented dancers, musicians, craftspeople and storytellers take charge of the beautiful Capitol Complex in Charleston and turn it into a bustling showcase. Fiddlers, banjo and dulcimer players compete for ribbons and prizes – and for the more coveted satisfaction of being first among the very best practitioners of America’s oldest music. Visitors of all ages stroll among performances and lively demonstrations, tantalized by the sights and sounds, and by hearty foods from several traditions. Everywhere the focus is on the bedrock Appalachian folk culture and the ethnic customs which enrich it in West Virginia. Vandalia is homecoming time in the mountains. Come home with us as you enjoy the Vandalia Gathering.

WILD AND WACKY WORLD OF HASIL ADKINS

29 M. 1993 VHS Appalshop
See real mountain mamas fight over a spot to sit beside Madison, West Virginia native and one-man-band Hasil Adkins, who invented “The Hunch,” and such continental hits as the “Chicken Walk,” “I’m Gonna Cut Your Head Off And Hang It On The Wall.” Hasil gives a sample of his art as he dances, sings and stomps on the top of his truck (hope it’s his) and entertains in a tavern. Hasil begins where country roads end!  

Available from various sources – Film Services ended as independent division in 1997

The Appalachians – series

180 mins.  2005  Evening Star Productions

Mari-Lynn Evans, executive producer, was born and raised in Bulltown, Braxton County, West Virginia. After more than two decades producing hundreds of health and other films, she returns home to her beloved Appalachia. The four parts are 1. First Frontier, Pre-History – 1870 – Native Americans, European pioneers, Civil War; 2. Barons, Feuds & White Lightening, 1871-1929 – feuds, timber and coal, labor wars, moonshine and roaring 1920s; 3. Boom & Bust, 1929-1965 – Great Depression, WWII, migration in 1950s, War on Poverty; 4. Memories in a Modern World, 1965-present – legacy, music, land in conflict (MTR), people and future of Appalachia. The Sierra Club, a sponsor, has built a good website for the series – http://www.sierraclub.org/appalachia. Random House published a book in conjunction with the series, edited by Ms. Evans, The Appalachians.  Access: PBS Store after national showing in April 2005.

Catching Up With Yesterday

28 mins.  1990 Facets Multimedia

A documentary portrait of Andrew F. Boarman, a 78-year-old West Virginia instrument maker and musician. In addition to featuring a number of lively musical performances, the film illustrates Boarman’s skills as a master craftsman of banjos, guitars, fiddles, and dulcimers. Interviews with Boarman provide a historical and regional context for the life and work of this leading representative of Appalachian culture and folk traditions. Access: facets.org. 

Chase the Devil – Religious Music of the Appalachians

60 mins.  1991

Nationally-aired PBS documentary gives a street-level perspective of the religious music of the Appalachians, with a behind-the-scenes tour of the provocative culture. From Beats of the Heart series. Access: Facets, Amazon.

More….From the Back Cover

Religious music of the South Appalachians covers a wide panorama. At one extreme, the fundamentalist Baptists regard any music as “the devil’s work,” and at the other end the Holiness Church centers the fervor and intensity of its services on hard driving, highly rhythmic music. This film focuses on the exuberant preaching, singing, gyrations, and rituals of the Holiness Church, including footage of enraptured holiness members “speaking in tongues” and handling poisonous snakes as part of church services. Chase the Devil also captures many other aspects and byways of isolated mountain music and culture, such as the haunting archaic religious balladry of Dee and Delta Hicks and Nimrod Workman, the old-time banjo playing of Virgil Anderson, the fiddle-band stylings of the Roan Mountain Hilltoppers, a traditional baptism in a river, and a visit with an old recluse who communicates with Jesus via a broken auto antenna.

Clogging in the New Millennium   

2005  50  mins. Afterglow Productions

Ain’t your daddy’s clogging unless he danced to Michael Jackson’s Thriller or a disco version of Amazing Grace while re-enacting the crucifixion. The filmmakers attempt to answer the age old question, “Does God love clogging?” Jacob Young and Carmen Fullmer of Afterglow Productions in Morgantown, WV. Access: Jacob Young

Coal Camp Blues, Coalfield Struggle

2003 55 mins. Jim McGee

Jim McGee made this film about Carl Rutherford, a well-known coal field musician and activist. He was active in the grass roots group, Big Creek People in Action (BCPIA), based in McDowell County. As a musician he is known as a Buck Owens style singer, writing his own songs about coal mines and life. Archival footage and historical photographs are used to illustrate his songs. Also featured is Frani Patton, director of BCPIA. To learn more about Rutherford, visit his website at - http://www.geocities.com/carl_rutherford… .  Access –Cost is      $ 21. Send check or money order to – Jim McGee, 1118 Hilliard Ave, Louisville, KY 40204.   James.McGee at jhsmh.org. Or check with Frog Creek Books at Charleston Farmer’s Market.

Coal Camp Memories

2006  78 mins. WV Enterprises

Well-known West Virginia actress Karen Vuranch has been performing her one-person play about the lives of women who grew up in Appalachia’s coal camps during the first part of the twentieth century around the state, country, and world. In 2006 she filmed her performance at the Hulett C. Smith Theater at The Tamarack Center in Beckley, WV. Using photos from the George Bragg Collection and music by live performers, she presents the viewer with the life of Hallie Marie, first as an exuberant ten-year-old, demure teenager, young wife, and finally an old woman. Vuranch also has done presentations as novelist Pearl S. Buck, labor activist Mother Jones, humanitarian Clara Barton, Indian captive Mary Draper Ingles, Civil War soldier and spy Emma Edmunds, Irish pirate Grace O’Malley and Wild West outlaw Belle Starr. The WV Labor History Association sponsored the world premiere of the film on Feb. 3, 2007 at The La Belle Theater in South Charleston. Teacher’s website at - http://www.wventerprises.com/

Daniel Johnston grew up in New Cumberland, WV, eventually becoming homeless and then famous in Austin, Texas. More than 100 groups have sung his songs including Beck, Wilco, Sonic Youth and Pearl Jam. He also became a well-known primitive artist, selling his paintings for thousands of dollars. Using extensive documentation he took of his own life, the madness that hounded him is revealed, eventually sending him to Weston State Hospital. Winner of the directing award for documentary at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival.  Access: Amazon.com, etc.

DOUBLE GEARED LIGHTNING – THE STORY OF LEGENDARY WEST VIRGINIA FIDDLER WOODY SIMMONS

2007      59   Mins.           Pocahontas Communications Cooperative

A biography about Woody Simmons as told by his friends, neighbors, fellow musicians and his own music and recollections. He was born near Mill Creek, Randolph County on November 13, 1911 and died on June 3, 2005 after a life dedicated to music, motorcycles, and hard work.  22 of the 26 tunes are played by Woody. The music is drawn from recordings from over 50 years. Access:  Gibbs Kinderman at   AMR.Projects at STARBAND.NET. 1-800-297-2346

The Fifth String

81 mins.  American Film Partners International

Pocahontas County musician Dwight Diller and Clay County musician John Morris play two brothers who love old time music. Diller, the older brother, is a professor of music and folklore who returns to Appalachia for the funeral of his uncle who raised him. Trapped in the mountains, he embarks on a confrontation with a past he has tried to forget. Filmed on location in Philadelphia, Clay, and Pocahontas Counties.  Some locations in Pocahontas County include The Old Log Church, Moore’s Cabins on Jericho Road, the Marlinton Presbyterian Church, the Marlinton home of Wilma Wilson and Jamie Wilson Pitze, places in the Huntersville and Beaver Creek area, the county jail, the high school, and the radio station. A number of local people are included:  some of Pam Lund’s students, several local law enforcement deputies, Woody Schoolcraft, and others. Official website for the film – www.thefifthstring.com.  Access: Amazon, etc.

second description  – The Fifth String

81 mins.                                                         2003   Front Porch Entertainment

Traditional mountain music is used as a metaphor for a wide range of personal and cultural issues in this ambitious and highly entertaining movie. Pocahontas County musician Dwight Diller and Clay County musician John Morris play two brothers who love old time music but have a strained relationship with each other. Diller, who plays the older brother, is a professor of music and folklore who returns to Appalachia for the funeral of the uncle who raised him. When he becomes trapped in the mountains, he embarks on a confrontation with a past he has tried to forget. The movie was filmed largely on location in Clay and Pocahontas counties and addresses issues of identity and cultural preservation in a changing world. Diller and Morris turn in convincing acting performances, and their strong musical skills make this an enjoyable and thought-provoking film.

The DVD sells for $14.95 and is available on-line from amazon.com or by calling Front Porch Entertainment at (401)751-0014.

www.thefifthstringmovie.com

FRIENDLY NEIGHBOR SHOW – Xmas 2005

2005          60 mins.       George Daugherty

Wallace Horn of Chapmanville has been recording and broadcasting his own radio show non-stop since 1967. He used his television repair store as his studio. Most of the guests have been local musicians but others such as Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs, and The Foggy Mountain Boys have performed. Low Gap was the house blue grass band for 30 years, but eventually traveled for a decade, only to return in the 1990s. Elaine Purkey, a well-known labor singer/songwriter, also has performed on the show for 30 years. It is now being recorded in Vaughn Toler’s garage. Access: Steve Fesenmaier, VHS tape donated by George Daugherty. 

THE LAST FOREST: TALES OF THE ALLEGHENY WOODS

2004     180 MINS. 3 discs        Pocahontas Communications Cooperative

Five short stories of G.D. McNeill, a native of Pocahontas County, WV, have been adapted for radio by Michael Frasher. Larry Groce of “Mountain Stage” produced and directed with engineering by Francis Fisher, also of “Mountain Stage.” Performers – 1. The First Camp Fire – Bill Kimmons, James Thomas, Dalton Hammonds, Don Setliff with music by Dwight Diller. 2. The Mystery at Gauley Marsh – Julian Martin, Alan Griffith, Carter Zerbe, Dalton Hammonds, Eric Tate, Michael Frasher with music by Edden, Burl, Sherman and Less Hammons and Dwight Diller. 3. The Duke of Possum Ridge – Jim Costa, Ricklin Brown, Tom Rodd, Roseamry Rogers, Carter Zerbe, with music by Woody Simmons, Jim Costa, Mark Campbell and Jim Lloyd. 4. The Battle at the Whirlpool – Frank Taylor with music by Gandy Dancer, Charlie Loudermilk and Mud Hole Control. 5. The Last Campfire – Michael Frasher, Bill Kimmons, James Thomas, Ricklin Brown, Sallie Daugherty Sheridan, Dalton Hammonds with music by Gandy Dancer, Dwight Diller, Jim Costa, Mark Campbell and Jim Lloyd. Access: http://www.gauleymountain.org/order.htm or  Gibbs Kinderman at  AMR.Projects@STARBAND.NET. 800-297-2346

Leo Herron – Augusta Master Series

60 mins.  2005  Augusta Heritage Center

Barbour County musician “Fiddlin’” Leo Herron made his mark in West Virginia’s early country music radio days, playing fiddle and guitar in various bands over WMMN radio in Fairmont. In the 1990s Leo re-emerged at Augusta’s annual Fiddlers’ Reunion at Davis & Elkins College and delighting participants and other musicians with his considerable talent. Augusta filmmaker Gerry Milnes recorded a performance by Leo in 1997 that stands as the only known visual documentation of Herron’s music. That performance is available on this DVD along with rare audio recordings, historical photographs, biographical information, and three of Herron’s tunes played by apprentice fiddler Chris Haddox.

MUSIC OF HEAVEN – OLD TIME MUSIC FROM THE COAL RIVER COUNTY

2006   60 mins. Augusta Heritage Center

This film by 2006 WV Filmmaker of the Year Gerry Milnes is about the extraordinary talents of William Sherman “Junior” Holstein. His nephew and apprentice, Gary Wayne Jordan, introduces us to Junior who plays some rare and beautiful old-time fiddle tunes. He sings several old songs, words to fiddle tunes, and one original song to his own musical accompaniment. Junior visits with other traditional musicians in the area, describes old-time methods of making moonshine, and leads us through some of his own trials and tribulations as he battles personal demons. The title tune, “Music of Heaven,” a soulful instrumental, aptly relates to Junior’s fixation on his prospects for the afterlife. Access: Augusta Heritage at  http://www.augustaheritage.com/store.html, $30.