New website for Gray Barker film - Shades of Gray
Gray Barker
Two of WV’s leading filmmakers, Bob Wilkinson and Robert Tinnell, both love the amazing life of Clarksburg resident Gray Barker. I was talking to Wilkinson about his obsession and put him in touch with Tinnell, who now lives in Morgantown. They got together and have produced a great new film on Barker, “Shades of Gray,” which is not yet out yet - but it’s website has been posted.
Wilkinson works for WVPBS, working on stories for “Outlook” for which he directed one of the best recent WVPBS productions, “John Brown’s Body,” a look at the historic place Shepherdstown played in American history. ( Local white people still don’t like John Brown, and blacks had to organize to save the courthouse where he was tried. Storer College, one of America’s first black colleges, is also located there.)
Two other pictures of Gray Barker
Robert Tinnell is a former Hollywood film director/writer who is now better known for his graphic novels. He is in pre-production for directing a film version of his best-selling “The Feast of Seven Fishes” graphic novel, hoping to begin production in October 2008 if there isn’t a SAG strike.
I worked with Ralph Coon, a Hollywood/indie filmmaker who came here to direct “Whispers from Space, “a feature documentary about Gray Barker in 1995, programming the world premiere as part of the spring WVIFF held here at The Cultural Center. ( The film is available on VHS from Facets Multimedia. Hopefully the DVD will be coming out in 2008.)
I screened a preview of “Shades of Gray” and screened “Whispers from Space” last fall at The South Charleston Museum as part of its WV Film Series. Wilkinson came and introduced his great new film, showing just enough to show how different his film is from “Whispers.”
I look forward to seeing the completed “Shades of Gray” and hopefully getting many more people, both in WV and elsewhere, to learn more about Gray Barker who was one of the founders of the UFO Movement that is so widespread these days.
The July 4th edition of the Charleston Daily Mail ran a nice story on Barker and Wilkinson’s new film.
Cover of the VHS box for Whispers from Space
