Laura Harrisonsomehow found herself in West Virginia in 1996, directing her first documentary about Thurmond, the town used as a location for John Sayles 1987 epic, “Matewan.” At the time various interesting people including Katy Miller, a former WVLC department head, and the son of Hodding Carter were living in the tiny town. Every so often someone contacts me about acquiring the film and so….with a little Google searching I found out what Ms. Harrison has been doing since 1996….

 Here is what one of her websites says -

The VOTING IN AMERICA project is a production of Swell Cinema.
Co-produced by Laura Harrison & Charlotte Lagarde.

Laura Harrison
Laura Harrison’s award winning documentary Secret People(1999) - a chronicle of the past and present of leprosy in America - was broadcast nationally on PBS and won a silver medal for Best Feature Documentary at the SXSW Film Festival. Thurmond,
W. Va (1995) - a portrait of a “ghost town in the making”- has received among others, a CINE Golden Eagle Award and a Jury Award, at NY Expo of Short Film and Video.

Harrison worked for eight years in France as an editor on French feature films before returning to the US to complete an MA in documentary filmmaking from Stanford University. Since 1997, Harrison has taught media literacy and video production in the public school system and curated programs for the Aurora Picture Show, in
Houston. She is working on Dreaming of Kawthoolei, a portrait of a Burmese girl who lives in a refugee camp on the Thailand/Burma border.

http://www.votinginamerica.org/about.html#

I told WV filmmaker Jason Brown about the film, and many others over the years, especially anyone interested in WV coal camp history. Brown has been working on a feature documentary about the meaning and making of John Sayles’ “Matewan” called “Them that Work.”  I e-mailed Ms. Harrison. Perhaps she has DVD copies of her first film.

In any case, she is one of many filmmakers who began their careers here in WV including Karen Kramer (”Jolo Serpent Handlers,”1979), Jim Rutenbeck (”Company Town, 1983), Ken Fink (the filmmaker in Jeanette Walls book, “Glass Castle” who made “Between a Rock and a Hard Place,” 1981) in McDowell County, and of course John Sayles’ first epic, “Matewan”(1987). One of the first films that I helped rescue from a trash heap was a Cincinatti documentary on the area called “The Oldest New River.” WVLC and WV Archives worked together to transfer it to 16 mm film - a permenant way to store it - and then to VHS. Ken Sullivan, then the editor of Goldenseal, now director of the WV Humanities Council, traveled down to see Jon Dragon, the founder of white water rafting on the Gauley River. It was a trip I still recall. Latter, when Sayles came to my office about shooting “Matewan,” I immediately suggested Thurmond because of that visit. Eventually, that is of course, what he shot it rather than the real Matewan.

Here is my description of the film, available on VHS from WVLC through ILL at any local WV public library -

Thurmond, West Virginia

1996  Laura Harrison  22 M.  

 Thurmond, Fayette County, situated on the banks of the New River, was once a thriving community. Today, it stands as a ghost town in the making. This film, directed by Laura Harrison, looks at the history of this classic coal town, while subtly probing deeper issues about the importance of community and the identity of a place.

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