TOMMY! The Dreams I Keep Inside Me is a touching film about Tommy Onorato, a 60 year-old man with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and the life-long dream of singing with a Big Band. Armed with his golden voice and his All-American optimism, Tommy embarks on a quest to have the "world on a string."
The film Cotton Road follows cotton from South Carolina farms to Chinese factories to illuminate the work and industrial processes in a global supply chain. Americans consume nearly 20 billion new items of clothing each year. Yet few of us know how our clothes are made, much less who produces them. What does a rural town in South Carolina have to do with China? USC Professor and film director Laura Kissel traces the global flow of cotton, from fields in South Carolina, to ports in Savannah and Shanghai, and to textile factories in China. Evocatively capturing people and places, Cotton Road moves the viewer from farm laborers in the southeastern U.S. to millions of Chinese migrant workers driving that country’s manufacturing economy to ask: Are we connected to one another through the things we consume?
Behind Hurricane Katrina and the BP oil spill, there is a much larger, more devastating problem: the loss of thousands of miles of marshlands protecting the Gulf Coast. Southeast Louisiana is the fastest disappearing landmass on earth. As its fertile lands are destroyed, America is losing one of its most extraordinary regions. No community has been hit harder than Isle de Jean Charles. Home to a once thriving community of Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw Indians, the population of this tight-knit community is now dwindling as the marsh erodes. A government-funded levee system built close enough to be seen from shore teases the residents who desperately need it extended for their protection from the hostile storms that are increasingly exacerbated by climate change. This leaves the island defenseless against the ocean tide that will eventually destroy it. As each new storm destroys more homes, families are forced to move to higher ground, breaking up the cultural cohesion of the tribe.
Counter Histories: Rock Hill brings 1961 to life through the lives and words of the Friendship 9 whose actions ignited a passion that rose into the famed Freedom Rides, bringing the United States closer to major Civil rights reform. The film airs Thursday, February 18th at 9:00 p.m. on South Carolina ETV. On January 31st, 1961, in Rock Hill SC, the men who would become known as the Friendship 9 walked across town and sat down at a lunch counter. They were beaten, dragged outside, threatened, and sentenced to 30 days of hard labor at the York County Prison Camp. They were allowed no defense, afforded no rights, and offered no justice. Mostly students of nearby Friendship College, they held fast to nonviolence and “Jail No Bail.”
The film Bending Sticks celebrates the twenty-five year career of internationally renowned environmental artist Patrick Dougherty, who has created hundreds of monumental, site-specific sculptures out of nothing more than saplings. The film follows the artist and his collaborators during a year of stick work in the Carolinas and reveals Dougherty’s process, personal story and inspirations. The film airs Thursday, February 25 at 9:00 p.m. on South Carolina ETV. The heart of the film is the creation of five Dougherty commissions in different locations – inside the new wing of the NC Museum of Art, on Main Street in Rock Hill, SC, at a private home in Chapel Hill, NC, at the Bascom Art Center in the mountains of NC, and in the gardens of Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, DC. At each location, viewers see how Dougherty and many others transform piles of sticks into energetic lines and exuberant forms. Dougherty’s projects invite collaboration and engage communities in the making and viewing of his very public art. Bending Sticks explores how the artist’s childhood – spent rambling through the woods and building forts and hideouts with his four siblings – fueled his career and nurtured the prolific, insightful artist he is today after a quarter century of stick building in such places as Tacoma, Honolulu, Dublin, Brooklyn, Chateaubourg and Tokyo.
Learn the story of a group of civil rights activists who attempted to build a multiracial utopia—Soul City—in the heart of North Carolina’s Klan country during the 1970s. Rich archival material, interviews with former and current Soul City residents, animation and soulful rhythms of the era bring alive the vision of founder Floyd B. McKissick and his band of idealists who, despite the odds stacked against them, risked it all to build the city of their dreams.
Discover the oddly spellbinding personal, cultural and scientific history of the deeply transgressive and often misunderstood practice of consuming earth, a phenomenon known as geophagy. The film collects and combines the experiences, processes and explanations of people who eat white dirt with information from the scientists who study the phenomenon.
Exiled by family and rejected by an ex, 17-year-old Jasmine finds new love and the courage to become Cole, a strong-willed transgender man, in this powerful verité portrait of trans life in rural North Carolina. Cole’s candid humor and steadfast Christian beliefs counter the bigotry he experiences daily. Executive produced by Susan Sarandon.
Meet two unforgettable women—a fiery, pro-coal right-winger and a tenacious, environmentalist grandmother—whose lives collide when a mine disaster shatters their community. Filmed over seven years, the pair’s courageous story underscores the need for reconciliation as they take on a rogue industry to help heal their Appalachian Mountain community.
Between 1933 and 1974, the state of North Carolina ran one of the most aggressive eugenics programs, sterilizing more than 7,600 men, women and children. This film follows the journey of survivors, legislators and journalists who insist the state confront its role in the tragic, forced sterilization of thousands of Americans thought to have “undesirable” genetics.
Come along with colorful characters carrying on a cherished Mardi Gras tradition as they gather at the epicenter of all things costuming—the family-owned Jefferson Variety fabric and craft store. The film highlights the creativity and personal expression linked in the cultural identity and narrative of New Orleans and provides a deeper look into the significance of costuming and the carnival season.
Private Violence is a feature-length documentary film that explores a simple, but deeply disturbing fact of American life: the most dangerous place for a woman in America is her own home. Every day in the US, at least four women are murdered by abusive (and often, ex) partners.
Three decades ago, the nearly extinct red wolf was reintroduced in North Carolina. While this flagship conservation effort paved the way for reintroducing several other species across the country, today fewer than 100 wild red wolves remain—and their fate hinges on significant biological, political, cultural and economic challenges.
Little known even in their home state, the Croatians of Lower Plaquemines Parish have used grit and determination to build an oystering industry that has made Louisiana famous. Follow the lives of four people who embody the 150-year Croatian experience in Louisiana and share in the history of this unique tight-knit community.
Shake 'em On Down' is the story of Fred McDowell, the godfather of the North Mississippi style of blues. Through interviews and never-before-seen footage of Fred McDowell and other blues legends, the film tells the story of a Mississippi sharecropper who went on to influence the music of the Rolling Stones, Bonnie Raitt, RL Burnside, Taj Mahal and the North Mississipp All Stars.
In 1952, gravedigger by day and bluesman by night Henry ‘Gip’ Gipson opened a ramshackle backyard juke joint in Alabama. Once scattered across the rural South, juke joints have become relics of the past. In the Spring of 2013, Gip’s Place, the last juke joint in Alabama, was raided and ordered to shut down. Gip follows the battle to keep the blues alive.
In the months leading up to the Supreme Court decision on marriage equality, gay families in Alabama were busy fighting discriminatory state laws. Alabama Bound chronicles the roller-coaster ride for gay rights in the South, and a resilient community that lives with both frustration and hope in a place where the line between church and state is often blurred.
Monuments to the Confederacy permeate the American South. Emotions run high and tensions mount when, in 2015, the New Orleans city council convenes a public debate over the fate of its Confederate statues. As the council prepares to vote, Divided City reveals deep divisions about the history and symbolism of the monuments, and their place in the public space and in the South.
Jonah Bascle was an unconventional mayoral candidate, even by New Orleans standards: artist, comedian, disability-rights activist. Born with muscular dystrophy, Jonah raced against mortality throughout his twenties. Combining humor, political action, and a sense of urgency, Jonah Stands Up challenges stereotypes associated with differently-abled individuals in New Orleans.
Marlise Muñoz was 33 years old and 14 weeks pregnant when she suffered a pulmonary embolism and was pronounced brain-dead. Due to a little-known Texas law, the Muñoz family was forced to keep Marlise on life support against her wishes. 62 Days follows the Muñoz family’s journey from tragedy to activism as they fight to change this law, revealing the human toll behind a growing political trend.
Dan Parker, a world champion drag racer, struggles to adjust to his new reality after he is blinded in a fiery racing accident. Though visually impaired, Dan has not given up his love of working with his hands, or his love of racing. Driven Blind follows Dan’s single-minded quest to find meaningful work and to get back behind the wheel.
With unprecedented behind-the-scenes access at the Memphis Zoo, See the Keepers gets up close and personal with big cats, penguins, snakes, Komodo dragons, and their human caretakers. When Kofi the giraffe faces an uncertain future, the film bears witness to the complexity of caring for animals in captivity, and the love and fortitude of the keepers that care for them.
Brimming with cowboy boots, country music, and longneck beers, Honky Tonk Heaven is a toe-tapping tour of this legendary Texas dancehall. With fifty years under its belt, the Broken Spoke has endured Austin’s rapid growth and skyrocketing rents. Beyond the story of its illustrious history and celebrated performers, the Spoke is a treasured family business that has survived against the odds.
The Glover family invites an indigenous activist group to start a protest camp on their land in West Texas. Roughly 20 miles north of the US-Mexico Border, the Two Rivers camp sets out to fight the same company that built the pipeline at Standing Rock. As more oil and gas projects threaten the region, their struggle reveals much about the colonial legacy of Texas and the price of activism.
Life for a Latinx immigrant family in the New South can be challenging and sometimes terrifying, but thankfully, there’s always a fiesta to take you through the night. Three Latina girls and a seasoned drag artist hose their own quinceañera, a complex and colorful rite of passage, showcasing the creative spirit of Latinx communities and their struggles to retain their roots and traditions.
Thousands of Chinese students arrive in the United States each year, often confronting loneliness and culture-clash upon arrival. Arriving in North Carolina to study filmmaking, Hao Zhang is surprised to find a unique community of Chinese students, connected by a newly discovered evangelical Christianity that is often at stark odds with their communist roots in China.
After 25 years of living in the United States, Guatemalan grandmother Juana Ortega is threatened with deportation and soon takes sanctuary in a small North Carolina church. As time passes, and state lawmakers continue to ignore the family's pleas for a stay on her deportation, Juana's spirits slowly sink. And yet, Juana is patient that in God's house, God will answer her prayers.
In a fading Georgia town, a community recalls its dark past and faces a grim present. An undocumented immigrant, caught in legal limbo and facing deportation, contemplates his future. In the midst of it all, a massive, private immigration prison generates millions in profits. Where these stories meet, the hidden epicenter of America’s immigration crackdown is revealed—a place called Lumpkin, GA.
Growing up in rural South Carolina, celebrated American garden designer Ryan Gainey developed a love of plants at an early age. After moving to Atlanta in the 1970s, Ryan began designing gardens in affluent neighborhoods and around the world. A contradictory character, offensive and tender, artificial yet truly authentic, Ryan was known for his love of beauty and the ability to create it.
A successful fashion designer who gave up her big-city career, Ingrid Gipson discovered a reclusive life of solitude and unhindered creativity in Arkansas’ rural Ouachita Mountains. As if through poetry, she opens up her world again to those of us willing to listen.
Captain Chris Scott rallies a colony of tent residents to defend their provisional homes against the forces of gentrification. As development encroaches on the community, the tragedies and personal experiences of a displaced community resurface among those clinging to their last remnant of stability.
F11 and Be There is a commentary on American civil rights, race, social justice, and art, told through the many lenses of legendary Life and Magnum photographer Burk Uzzle. With a career that began in the 1950s, Burk Uzzle has created some of the most iconic photographs in American history. This film is a journey alongside one of America's greatest visual poets as he makes museum exhibitions with a local African American community in eastern North Carolina, travels America's backroads in search of hidden treasures of Americana, and using his vast archive as a guide, confronts race, inequality, and injustice through the many parallels of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Much of America’s rich history is being lost to time. In the South, vast amounts of African-American gravesites and burial grounds for enslaved persons have been disappearing over the years. In Virginia alone, stories of thousands at rest could vanish from history altogether if these locations are not restored. Those with personal connections to these burial sites have recently begun to uncover and maintain locations across the state. However, there is much work to be done in order to preserve this part of America’s history. Unmarked not only explores these untold stories of the past but also the efforts underway to preserve them.
After a contentious race, the 2017 runoff for mayor of New Orleans came down to two candidates: Desirée Charbonnet and LaToya Cantrell, two very different black women. The winner of this election would take office as the first female mayor of New Orleans and the city’s fourth black mayor. Through news footage, campaign advertisements and archival audio and video, All Skinfolk Ain't Kinfolk is the unprecedented story of this mayoral runoff told through the eyes of black women living in this city.
The story of the Charleston Gazette-Mail, a family-owned, Pulitzer Prize-winning local newspaper in West Virginia fighting for survival.
LGBTQ West Virginians fight to live free from discrimination, calling us to reimagine the power and longevity of a small town queer community.
Henrietta Boggs, a reluctant Southern belle, finds her way to Central America in the 1940s, in search of freedom and adventure. Instead, she is swept up in political upheaval, when her new husband is elected president of Costa Rica. First Lady of the Revolution portrays a courageous woman who escaped the confines of a sheltered existence to help nurture a young democracy.
In 1979, a fatal shooting ignites a maelstrom of hostilities against Vietnamese refugee fishermen along the Gulf Coast. Set during the early days of Vietnamese refugee arrival in the U.S., "Seadrift" examines this turbulent yet little-seen chapter of American history and explores its consequences that continue to reverberate today.
At 84, folk music pioneer Alice Gerrard performs, teaches, and inspires the next generation while safeguarding groundbreaking moments of her past.
The Clinton, Mississippi High School Attaché Show Choir is considered to be among the most successful in history. In a region where arts and music funding have been virtually demolished and attitudes to popular music have been slow to change, Clinton public school's music programs manage to thrive. Composed of students from different backgrounds, Attaché unites generations of performers and newcomers to travel across the country and compete a heart-pounding routine.
As a centuries-old black community in Louisiana, contaminated and uprooted by petrochemical plants, comes to terms with the loss of its ancestral home, one man standing in the way of a plant’s expansion refuses to give up.
A jovial love letter to the game of golf, told by the Black golfers who, despite segregation and racist systems, built a vibrant culture and lasting community on a municipal golf course in Asheville, North Carolina. Narrated by popular singer and golfer Darius Rucker. Directed by Paul Bonesteel
A small Cajun town in rural Louisiana holds an annual exhibition football game between the majority-Black public school and majority-White private school, called the Tee Cotton Bowl. This meditative small town portrait examines the effects of racial segregation, and a range of perspectives on the game.
Four years after the historic enrollment of James Meredith, student activists at the University of Mississippi devise a plan to defy a speaker-ban in 1966 by inviting Robert F. Kennedy, who reveals the truth about back-room politics, the belief-systems of those holding the highest power, and how campus-activism shapes the future of civil rights and all those who bear witness. Directed by: Mary Blessey
When Atlanta teens Cliff, Ahmani, and Nicholas attempt to trek four, 12,000 ft snow-capped peaks in the heart of the Rocky Mountains, they face the thrills, joy, and struggles of navigating the wilds of Colorado and daily life back home in Georgia. Directed by Michiel Thomas.
Renowned African American embalmer, James Bryant, puts his faith in a new generation to continue the legacy of Black funeral homes in San Antonio, Texas. But his young intern, Clarence Pierre, is conflicted about his commitment due to the judgment he receives as a queer, Christian man. Directed by Nathan Clarke. Produced by Lana Garland & Tyler Trumbo.
An Arkansas community mobilizes around a divisive ballot initiative for a new high school, led by a group of high school writers and performers who seek healing for themselves and justice for their community through hip hop. Directed by Nathan Willis.
A dying shopping mall outside of Birmingham, Alabama, its patrons, and its tenants embody the diversity and tenderness of Americana culture in a changing South.
