Chris Hatten, the librarian at the Huntington Museum of Art, told me that the new feature doc made in Huntington called “The Comic Book Lady,” directed by Shayne Barker,  will have its WV premiere on October 19th.For 28 years Kathleen Miller has run Huntington’s Comic World. Read the Huntington Dispatch story on the film. The film was nominated for the “hearty award” at the Heart of England International Film Festival where the film had its world premiere. It was also shown at the San Antonio Film Festival.  To learn more about the film, visit its website.

Kelley visiting me at the WV Cultural Center, holding a copy of the new WV film map, “Mountain State’s Cinematic Footprints.”

Kelley Thompson is one of WV’s newest and most active filmmakers. In May of this year he presented his largest project so far, “The Widen Project.” He has sold more than 300 copies, giving away more than 100 copies. (more…)

John Henry is one of West Virginia’s and the world’s greatest heroes, ranking with Paul Bunyon and Johnny Appleseed. However, in this case, as “Ain’t Nothing but a Man - My Quest to find the Real John Henry”   shows, he was a real person. This landmark book by Scott Reynolds Nelson with Marc Aronson is a young adult version of Nelson’s award winning bestseller, “Steel Drivin’ Man - John Henry and the Untold Story of an American Legend.” This book, using many illustrations, shows how he dug through lots of records to find out that the real man was a Virginia convict who had indeed been sent north to work on building railroads in northern Virginia.

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Clyde Ware second from left. Scott, Princeton filmmaker far left. To the right of Ware is me and on far right Kevin Carpenter, filmmaker and prez of WV FFFF. This photo was taken at the 2002 WV Intl. Film Fest in downtown Charleston. Ware was given a lifetime achievement award by WVIFF.

Clyde Ware is one of WV’s most productive contributors to Hollywood film and television. On August 5th, at 7 PM, Iwill be introducing his amazing independent film “No Drums, No Bugles, ” made entirely on location in Doddridge County in 1971 with a then unknown actor, Martin Sheen. The film was shown a few years ago finally at the WV Cultural Center in Charleston, and now - it’s finally made it to Huntington! It is part of a series of programs programmed in support of the Huntington Museum of Art’s exhibition of “Civil War Photographs from the David L. Hack Collection.”

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“The X-Files - I want to Believe” was a very nice film, and its set almost entirely in West Virginia. Two women are abducted in WVand Agent Scully is contacted while working apparently in a WV Catholic hospital. The FBI needs Agent Multaur to deal with a local psychic who is getting images of the women. The team is reunited, and they quickly learn that the priest, a convicted pedophile, is telling the truth. The mountains shown obviously are too high to be WV’s - the film was actually shot outside Vancouver. However, the towns, rural sites, etc. are believable and add a nice touch to this stand-alone mystery. The end of the film reminded me of some psychotronic B-films from the 1950s about “people with two-heads” which is a plus, not a minus. Of course, the official description on the IMDB say that the story takes place in rural VIRGINIA, but several times the film lists an imaginery town in WEST VIRGINIA.

Kevin Carpenter, president of the WVFFF, with Ray Schmitt in the middle, Kevin’s wife Doreen on other side - visiting spring WVIFF in downtown Charleston May 2008

Ray Schmitt is one of WV’s leading and most productive filmmakers. He was chosen as the “West Virginia Filmmaker of the Year” in 2004 while producing six films in one year.

He will be presenting his latest film, “Dead Girl Walking,”  at The Lost River Craft Cooperative in Lost River, WV on Aug. 9 at 1 and 3 PM. 

Visit his film company, Real Earth Productions, to learn more about some of his many films. (more…)

Ross Spears, a well-known documentary filmmaker, and c0-creator Jamie Ross will be releasing a new series on Appalachia - “Appalachia - A History of Mountains and People,” narrated by Sissy Spacek. The world premiere of the series will be September 27th at the University of Tennesse.  Spears visited The West Virginia Library Commission, Library Development, years ago when he was starting his research for this project. He talked to some of the consultants about what he should include in his film series. (more…)

Gordon Simmons, president of the WV Labor History Assn, and host of “West Virginia Authors, with Terry Lively, outside the WV Cultural Center

Gordon Simmons, perhaps the leading expert in the world on WV authors, and host for the WVLC Library Television Network program, “West Virginia Authors,” interviewed a leading WV filmmaker, Terry Lively, in July 2008. He interviewed her about her nationally award-winning film, “Crossings - Bridge Building in West Virginia” that became a coffee table picture book which she edited. The author of the book is Carol Melling. You can watch the interview on various cable systems around the state and soon watch it at any local public library via a video server. WVDOT donated DVD copies of the film to every public library in the state, available to check out. Both the DVD and book have been hailed as masterpieces.

Dr. Fred Pollock, president of the WV Jewish Film Festival, recently made a trip to Spain having never been there. I asked him if he had ever seen Bunuel and Dali’s first film - and Bunuel’s most shocking, “Un Chien Andalou”( Andalusian Dog)(1929). He said he had never heard of it…..so I borrowed KCPL’s DVD of it, and WVLC’s VHS of “Powers of Ten,” also one of the two or three greatest short films ever made.

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