Barton Weiss checking out the new WV “Mountain State’s Cinematic Footprints” map created by the WV Film Office.

Barton Weiss, otherwise known around the indie world as “Black Bart” because of his dark hair and searching eyes, flew from Dallas to Charleston on Friday, June 6th, to attend the 25th anniversary of The WV Filmmakers Guild, an organization he co-founded. He was also the first president, way back in 1983…It was great to see him and hear a few of his many tales…He joined other WV filmmakers from all over the state who congregated at the Landmark Studio for the Arts in Sutton to celebrate the auspicious event.

Weiss taught at WV State College for two years, leaving the Communications Dept. for Dallas in 1985. During his years in Dallas, he has programmed bars, started the Dallas Video Festival, taught at different local universities, and served on the national board of the Association of Independent Film and Video Makers.

 WVFG prez Terry Lively with Barton Weiss and official photographer for the reunion, Cheryl Austin.

On Friday, Terry Lively, current prez of the WVFG, picked him up at Yeager Airport, driving him to Sutton. On Friday night there was a ceremony and Jason Brown, vice prez, showed a 25 minute rough cut of his film on the “making and meaning of Matewan,” “Them that Work,” and Jacob Young presented his new feature doc, “The Urim and Thummim,” chosen by the Village Voice as “One of the ten best undistributed films of 2007.”

On Saturday, after a WVFG meeting at 10:30 am, there were workshops on the new state law regarding tax discounts, etc. for filmmakers in the state, presented by the WV Film Office. There was also a workshop on intellectual property rights. Following dinner at a local restaurant, films from the 1970s and 1980s including Daniel Boyd’s hilarious short film, “Coal Dust, Fairy Dust,” Robert Gates’ ” Morris Family Old Time Music Festival,” a piece of John Nakashima’s film about his famous uncle George and other films were shown.

Since I was unable to attend for health reasons, Bart spent a few hours with me on Sunday afternoon. He told me that a tour of WV public libraries back in 1982 opened a door he never knew existed, namely media programming in public libraries. He still tours Texas colleges and libraries, presenting “the best of the Dallas video fest” at sites around the state. You can see two of his short films at the famous 6th Floor Museum in Dallas - the museum where Lee Harvey Oswald shot Kennedy.

Black Bart came back to Charleston for the first time since he packed up his U-Haul and left for his new life in Dallas. He just has been so busy with his full-blast media life in Texas he hasn’t had time until now. 

Weiss now spends most of his time programming his Dallas Video Festival and teaching. He also travels extensively, and seems to be on top of what is happening in the indie film world. Hopefully he will be able to show some of WV’s many great films somewhere in Texas, and someone in WV can show some of the winners of the Dallas Video Festival. There are a million links between the two states.

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