Workshop on new WV labor films at state library conference
Kelley Thompson with William C. Blizzard holding his book When Miners March. Thompson interviewed Blizzard about his father, Bill Blizzard, concerning the Widen Strike
Kelley Thompson will have a preview of his new film about the Widen Strike in Clay County at the annual West Virginia Library Association annual conference that will take place in Morgantown on October 2 at the Lakeview Resort. A short film that he made promoting William C. Blizzard and his book about the WV Mine Wars, “When Miners March” will also be shown along with clips of many other new films about labor history in West Virginia and Appalachia.
I will be presenting these films to show West Virginia librarians about the great interest in our labor history. Other clips from “UE - A New Beginning,” “The Battle of Local 5668,” “AsturianUS,” “The Burning Rock-Coal,” “Coal Camp Memories,” “Morristown In the Open Air,” WV State Archives historic films, and other clips will be presented.
Kelley Thompson is a Charleston-based filmmaker who has worked on many local projects during the years including a film version of January Johnson’s “Match Girl”, Terry Lively’s UE film and much more will finally be getting some due. Hopefully the world premiere of his completed Clay County- Widen Strike film will take place in early 2008 at The South Charleston Museum.
More on “New and once lost WV/Appalachian Labor Films” -
ASTURIAN-US 2006 52 MINS. The town of Arnao (Asturias province, northern
Spain) grew under the wing of the Royal Mining Company. After the closure of its mine and the limitations of its factory at the beginning of the 20th century, many of its employees immigrated to similar factories located far from the sea, at the foot of the mountains of
West Virginia. Several new towns were created: Spelter and Anmoore. 90% of their population was Asturians. Luis Argeo traveled from
Spain in spring 2006 to document these people with the assistance of Chip Hitchcock of WBPBS. You can watch a documentary on the making of the film at this website, produced by WVPBS - http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Luis+Argeo&search=Search.Access: Luis Argeo” <argeol@hotmail.com>
The
battle of local 56682007 54 mins. Shawn Bennett Shawn Bennett grew up in
Parkersburg, studying film at Pittsburgh Filmmakers and studying under Julia Reichert (“Union Maids.”) His father Joe worked at The Ravenswood Aluminum plant for years, and was part of the famous lock-out that took place for almost two years starting in 1990. Using historic footage, TV news broadcasts, and interviews with people who took part in one of the most important labor struggles in recent American history, he presents a compelling story of global capitalism vs. devoted workers. The United Steelworkers and fellow union members traveled around the country and world, protesting the inhumanity of the corporate leaders in a model campaign for justice. Marc Rich, an international criminal pardoned by President Clinton during his last day in office, was the man at the top. The film’s website is at - www.battleoflocal5668.com. Access: shawn@shawnbennett.netTo purchase - http://tinyurl.com/2pdkq4Or
http://web.mac.com/shawnbennett1/iWeb/Battle%20of%20Local%205668%20Film%20Purchase/BuyThisFilmNow.html. CLAYCOUNTY
FILM
2007 55 mins. Killer Productions
Charleston filmmaker Kelley Thompson was hired in 2006 by the Central Appalachia Empowerment Zone to interview Clay Countians, filming their memories. As he did this, he found that many recalled life in Widen,Clay
County, the famous company town built by J.G. Bradley who was a national and state coal mining leader. He learned about the 1952 U.M.W.A. strike the hoped to f inally organize the local coal miners. He interviewed William C. Blizzard, son of the union leader Bill Blizzard, Gordon Simmons, president of the WV Labor History Assn. and others about the strike. The film also covers other areas including the Buffalo Creek & Gauley Railroad, sports history with legendary coach Bobby Stover, and many others. Hopefully the film will lead to a renewed interest in riding the once abandoned railroad. Access: Central
Appalachia Empowerment Zone 1-800-935-3921.
CoalCamp
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.coalcampmemories.com/ Access – WV Enterprises at http://www.wventerprises.com/
A COAL TRAIL2007 53 min. Cadiz/Hicks Production
Five parts. 1. A slide show with music of the National Coal Heritage Area. 2. Gordon Simmons 25 minute interview with Mr. Hicks on Simmons’ cable show, “WV Author”. 3. A few scenes from his proposed feature film, “A Flaming Rock.” 4. Mining Reflections. 5. A slide show of Caretta and other coal camps around War,McDowell
County. Access: More info on the DVD “A Coal Trail” and the coming feature, “A Flaming Rock” can be found at the film’s website - www.aflamingrock.com. Contact Mr. Hicks for a personal visit, etc. at - enie31@aol.com 937-258-2306
A FLAMING ROCK! COAL2007 120 mins. Cadiz/Hicks Productions
This is a second film made by Enoch Hicks and Ellery E. Cadiz. Hicks grew up in War,McDowell
County where this film had its world premiere at its annual Fall Festival. The film has 15 chapters that cover everything from the origin of coal to a tribute for a miner’s family servicemen. Additional short films cover a history of mining safety, a history of mining machinery, a simulated mine explosion, and a portrait of War, WV. Access: www.aflamingrock.com. Contact Mr. Hicks for a personal visit, etc. at - enie31@aol.com 937-258-2306
HILLBILLY – THE REAL STORY2007 120 mins.
Moore Huntley Productions The original title of this film was “Appalachia –
America’s First Frontier.” The staff at The History Channel renamed it. It premiered on Sunday, September 23 at 8 PM on The History Channel. It takes the viewer on a 300-year journey from the violent border wars of the Scottish lowlands to the rough and tumble Appalachian stock car races of the 1950s. Billy Ray Cyrus hosts the program. It tells stories about the Battle of Kings Mountain in 1780, Tennessee when a small army of mountain men beat the British Army and turned the tide of the American Revolution; the saga of the Appalachian moonshiners’ deadly war with the Federal revenuers and the dramatic tale of the most famous American folk hero of whom you’ve probably never heard –moonshining outlaw Lewis Redmond; the building of the epic
Clinchfield Railroad into the Appalachian mountains - one of the costliest railroads in dollars and lives ever built; the largest civil insurrection since the Civil War — the Battle for Blair Mountain in the violent West Virginia coalfields in 1921, when a self- proclaimed Redneck Army of 10,000 coal miners fought for their right to organize; the First Family of stock car racing — the Fabulous Flocks, 3 outlaw bootlegging brothers from a hell-raising family who went on to pioneer modern stock car racing; the century-long fight of the snake handling churches of Appalachia for the right to practice their deeply-held religious beliefs; the TVA Fontana Dam, whose construction by the hard working and patriotic hillfolk in 1942 helped win a World War half the world away; and Popcorn Sutton, the legendary moonshiner and mountain man who, at age 74, keeps defying the law by producing his centuries-old recipe for homemade whiskey in clandestine stills in the mountains…. and who, after 60 years of moonshining, is still paying the price for his convictions with new criminal convictions. Access: The History Channel http://store.aetv.com/html/home/index_branded.jhtml.
MORRISTOWN- IN THE AIR AND SUN2007 55 Mins. Appalshop In this hour-long documentary, director Ann Lewis chronicles nearly a decade of change in Morristown, Tennessee, through interviews with displaced or low-wage Southern workers, Mexican immigrants, and workers and families impacted by globalization. The film shows how working-class people in Mexico and eastern
Tennessee are caught in the throes of massive economic change, challenging their assumptions about work, family, nation and community. “
Morristown” is in Spanish and English with subtitles. Access: Appalshop at http://appalshop.org/store2/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=100Her personal website with the most info about “
Morristown” - http://www.annelewis.org/morristown_info.html
A NEW BEGINNING 2007 5 mins. Vandalia Productions
This is a short film on the West Virginia Public Workers Union – United Electrical Workers Local 170. State, county, and municipal workers in
West Virginia brought the only union controlled by the rank and file to the state in spring 2007, marking a new chapter in organizing blue and white collar government workers. Terry Lively, a member of UE Local 170, and president of the West Virginia Filmmakers Guild, began a new film about contemporary unions in the state. Access: Terry Lively, Vandalia Productions, http://www.vandalia-productions.com/ Pulp Fiction, Poison Promises1995 14 min.
Mimi Pickering of Appalshop was hired to direct a film about the proposed pulp mill to be built at Apple Grove,Mason
County. The Affiliated Construction Trades Foundation paid for the film that explores the dangers that the pulp mill would present – to the workers and the local environment including dumping dioxin into the
Ohio River. Many groups, both labor and environmental, opposed the mill, supported by Gov. Caperton and the Legislature. Eventually, the mill was not built.
The film also examines the impact that the company’s pulp mill had in the area around
Monroe, AL. The film was broadcast on WV television several times. See Doug Hawes-Davis’ film,”Green Rolling Hills” and “Southbound” from High Plains Films. Access: Steve Fesenmaier, WVLC The Rock that Burns- A Social History of the
Southern West Virginia Coalfields
1997 4 – 30 min. episodes (110 mins.) WV Documentary Consortium and Spectra Media Dr. Stuart McGehee history professor at WV State University presents the positive aspects of the coal mining world that existed in
Southern WV. McGehee is the historian for the WV Coal Association. Produced and directed by Gary Simmons, narrated by Butch McClung. This is definitely a coal industry version of WV history – vs. the many independent films about the same subject. Access: WVLC
WEST VIRGINIA AUTHOR – SHAWN BENNETT 2007 25 mins. WVLC Host Gordon Simmons interviews Shawn Bennett, the director of the new WV labor documentary, “The Battle of Local 5668.” Bennett talks about his father and family in
Parkersburg. His father worked for years at the Ravenswood Aluminum plant including during the lock-out shown in his film. He also talks about spending several years making the film, commuting from his
Hollywood job where he is currently trying to organize members of his profession.
