Director Ramirez, director, with editor David Wanger

Don Diego Ramirez,a  native of eastern West Virginia, has created a masterpiece work of art with his first feature documentary, “Trailer Trash - A Film Journal.”It has entered the pantheon of other great films about lost West Virginia souls including Robert Gates’ “Communication from Weber” and Jacob Young’s “Dancing Outlaw.” Hopefully millions of people around the world will get to see it - either at local film festivals, or perhaps on PBS’s great series “P.O.V.” Just like with “Weber” and “Dancing,” I was stunned by the film’s intensity and marveled at the great art work shown, combining the perfect image with the perfect sound. Bravo!

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Sam Shapiro, manager of the Public Library at the downtown Public Library of Charlotte-Mecklenburg County, presented one of West Virginia’s first films, “Tol’able David”(1921, remade in 1930) directed by Hollywood’s longest working director, Henry King.  65 people came to the presentation at the ImagOn Center. It was shown as part of their “Southern Flavor - Five Films about the South.” (more…)

Don Diego Ramirez has an amazing true-live story to tell in his new documentary - “Trailer Trash - A Film Journal.”  I found a review of it in a Baltimore newspaper, and hopefully will be previewing  it soon. There is a whole sub-genre of films about people who live in trailers including a quite good one by another WV filmmaker, Daniel Boyd, who made a film originally called “Paradise Park” starring Larry Groce.

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Goldenseal magazine has been publishing my annual list of new/once lost films on WV/Appalachia since around 1979 with a few years off around 1997. The fall 2007 issue with Robert C. Whetsell’s story on the cover about “Climbing to Victory” has done a particularly good job with the graphic design of the list. (You can read the list here) The South Charleston Museum screened Mr. Whetsell’s film on the subject, “Cliff-Scaling Soldiers of WV” this last spring.

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Cinda Firestone, famous for a recently restored feature documentary called “Attica”  came to Dingess, Mingo County in 1978 to make a film about the “Mountain People.” She ended up making a thoughtful documentary mainly about the elderly women who spent their lives growing their own food, making their own clothes, and living their own lives. They have the nobility of the Amish and everyone who has escaped the “Mall of America Culture” that has ruined much of our world.

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My picture of Allen Johnson at South Charleston Museum

Allen Johnson is another one of my WV heroes, like Gordon Simmons, Ken Hechler and Attorney General McGraw. On Friday, September 7th, Bill Moyers Journal repeated its story on Allen Johnson  from last fall’s episode, “Is God Green?” and added some updated footage of what he has been doing since then,  leading the Christians for the Mountains.

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Bob Wilkinson, one of WV’s best new filmmakers, began the Gray Barker Night program at The South Charleston Museum on Saturday night by talking about his fascinating with a largely unknown WV author from Clarksburg, Gray Barker. He introduced his amazing seven minute trailer for his evolving film, “Shades of Gray” to a small but appreciative audience.

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 Spanish filmmaker Luis Argeo, WV filmmaker Terry Lively, and WVLHA prez Gordon Simmons, May 2007

Gordon Simmons is the “Noam Chomsky” of West Virginia -or perhaps more exactly, the Antonio Negri, of West Virginia. Besides having an advanced education in philosophy, and teaching many courses in the difficult subject, he somehow finds the time to fight for the laboring women and men of the state.

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Sign for AV section at Charlotte Public Library

Samuel Shapiro, manager of the popular library at the Public Library of Charlotte-Mecklenburg County, e-mailed me this morning that a film about West Virginia, “Mountain Top Removal” won the best documentary award at the opening Charlotte Film Festival. Sam is the leading expert on film in the Charlotte area, setting up two of the four venues for the film festival at his library. He teaches film courses at the local college, programs film events all year at the library, and even worked for a friend of mine, Bill Sloan, at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC.

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