Best source for WV/Appalachian films - Appalachian Book Company
Mike Sublette, president of The Appalachian Book Company, sitting near Ken Hechler at Mimi Pickering’s presentation at The Cultural Center of her two films on the Buffalo Creek Disaster. Mike is a community activist as well as a book store owner.
Mike Sublette is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met, running Frog Creek Books at the Charleston Farmers Market. He recently decided to change his name to The Appalachian Book Company. I only found out about the name change by reading Carolyn Harmon’s story about in The Putnam Standard. Here are some of their new WV/Appalachian films available exclusively at this one fine book/video/music store….
If you go to the website, looking for DVDs and videos, you may have some problems. I did. So - to find DVDs…..click here…..instead of being under “DVDs, ” its under “Films on DVD.” To look through their much larger collection of VHS films on WV and Appalachia, search here….
Their two newest DVDs are two masterpieces from Appalshop - “Stranger with a Camera” which I believe is the only film from Appalshop to ever be shown at Sundance. I wrote a letter in the original production of the film. Indeed, when I came to WV in Sept. 1978 I was warned “that something could happen to me like what happened in Kentucky.” This film is about what happened…and it is truly chilling. ( After reading the great book on the “hillbilly stereotype” from Oxford Press and other books recommended by Gordon Simmons, I do believe that many locals, including the killer in “Stranger with a Camera” used outrage over the stereotypes to do harm. ) I have loaned my copy of the film to many people, and Appalshop and the WV Humanities Council have sponsored showing all over the state.
The other is Ann Lewis’ new labor film, “Morristown,” which won the Jack Spadaro Award from the Appalachian Studies Association this year. This film shows the links between factories in Appalachia and Mexico. It is an extremely well done film by Appalshop’s most productive filmmaker, Ann Lewis. It would make a great double-feature with “Stranger,” looking at the realities of economics and stereotypes of Appalachia.
