Huntington Herald Dispatch editorial on new Hechler film
Bookmark made by Marshall Universities Librariespremiere of film they produced, “Ken Hechler - In Pursuit of Justice.” It sets a new model for WV filmmakers and librarians working together to produce “content.”
The Huntington Herald Dispatch has done an excellent job covering the new Ken Hechler documentary. Here’s their recent editorial about the film and Ken’s years of work. I spoke with co-director Russ Barbour recently on the phone who said he’s wanted to make such an extended film about Ken for 15 years.
He and Morgantown-based filmmaker Chip Hitchcock produced this landmark film. The two are perhaps the easiest of all WVPBS filmmakers to work with, bringing years of experience and friendly personalities to their work. Barbour began in the 1980s, working continuously on many, many projects for WVPBS and others. He is a real family man which seems somewhat rare in the world of WV filmmaking. His previous most famous feature is West Virginians in War that he produced with WV’s world-class film archivist Richard Fauss from the WV State Archives. They both are working on a documentary about Gov. Marland who was one of WV’s most interesting governors. I also suggested that Barbour might make a good WV-oriented film about our second most famous artist after Pearl Buck, Pare Lorentz. I also said he might be interested in doing one about the amazing world of WV’s many breweries that once existed before Prohibition including the Fesenmeier Brewery of Huntington, WV’s last real brewery.
Barbour, Chip Hitchcock, Dick Fauss and WV’s many other filmmakers have lots of projects. I hope to be writing about them for a long time to come.
