Ray with his pooch Colby at the Schmitt House in Mathias, Hardy County
Ray Schmitt and his son Rich have posted three of their films on the web recently. First, Ray had his recent film, “Dead Girl Walking,” in a contest to chose the best recent film about breast cancer at BreastFest. Visit and vote for his film here.
Exterior of St. Patrick Catholic Church, in Lawrence, Mass, the poorest town in the state
Jim Rutenbeck came to West Virginia in the early 1980s, directing his first documentary, “Company Town” in 1983. This film is about Widen, Clay County, one of the most famous company towns in America during the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, controlled by legendary coal miner operator J.G. Bradley. ( Not even his IMDB listing includes this film. It does list “Raise the Dead,” his 1998 film that ends in War, McDowell County, WV. ) Since then he has worked on many great films including “Lulu in Berlin,” “Unnatural Causes,”(20 
and a slew of “American Experience” episodes produced by WGBH-Boston where he works full-time. Recently he has completed a new feature film, “Scenes from a Parish” that explores the life of a contemporary Roman Catholic parish in Lawrence, Mass, the poorest town in the state.
Greg Carroll, a board member of the WVIFF, sent me the schedule for their coming film festival. The film I most want to see is “Tell No One,” a new French film that Mike Lilly told me was the best film of the year. I also want to see the new film on Hunter S. Thompson, “Gonzo - The Life and Work of Hunter Thompson.” ( Wayne Ewing, who made two docs on the McGraw Brothers, also made two films on Hunter. He was a judge for WVIFF several years ago.) It’s nice to see that WVIFF is also showing B.J. Gudmundsson’s great recent film, “Rise Up! West Virginia” and Daniel Boyd will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of his first WV indie horror film, “Chillers.” Charleston filmmaker Sam Holdren will be showing his two new shorts that won awards at the 2008 WV Filmmakers Film Festival, “Audition” and “Play.” I have seen “Up the Yangtze” which is a great doc on contemporary China.
Rudy Panucci, Melanie Larch and friends from Radio Free Charleston took over the South Charleston Museum - La Belle Theater on Saturday night, October 25th. It was his third show at the Museum, and his first Halloween Special. Rudy gave it his all, but unfortunately, only 18 people came.
Mike Lilly, far right, with me and my wife Frani, in NYC at The Pioneer Theater, March 2004, right before he introduced his film, “Correct Change”
Mike Lilly, director of WV’s best indie feature, “Correct Change“(2002) and a super-sports fan, called from his California home today to discuss the new football film, “The Express.” Lilly attended a preview showing of the film around September 1 in LA. His friend, Allan Graf, was the second unit director and director of all of the football sequences. (more…)
Carl Reeverts finally mailed me a DVD of his new film, “Coal Ties: Yellow Springs to Meigs County.” Meigs County, Ohio, is located just across the border from Parkersburg. I have to admit that it was a relief to watch a film about coal NOT mined in West Virginia, but very sad to see the effects that all of the coal-fired electricity plants were having on the immediate environment around those plants. I really enjoyed the “balance” that included local people who did want the plants. I also enjoyed the honest expression of people, both in Yellow Springs, which is 100 + miles away from Meigs County, about what it was like to live in the state that caused some of the worst CO2 pollution in the country.
Wess Harris dropped off a copy of the new edition of Appalachian Heritage magazine, published at Berea College. On the cover is Connie West’s portrait of Don West, her husband, and on the back is her portrait of her daughter, Ann West Williams. A few years ago the WV Labor History Association, in conjuntion with Wess Harris, had a show of paintings by Connie West at The Cultural Center. During the opening ceremony, WVLHA also inducted Bill Blizzard, the leader of The Battle of Blair Mountain, and Ken Hechler into its WV Labor Hall of Honor. You can see some of the great paintings and read some of the articles including Jeff Biggers article about West called “The Pride and Prejudice of Don West.” ( Biggers is the editor of a recent book about Don West called “No Lonesome Road: Selected Prose and Poems of Don West” and “The United States of Appalachia.”)
Milind Ranade , a labor leader from India talking about his amazing story
UE Local 170 brought union leaders from around the world to the WV Cultural Center today for a luncheon. I got to meet people from Canada, India, Mexico, Japan and other U.S. states, hearing some amazing stories.
Still from “Misery in the Borinage”, one of the first films ever made about the lives of coal miners
“ COAL IS WEST VIRGINIA” one WV political leader once said. After Peter Argentine from Pittsburgh asked me about other films on coal mining, I thought it was time to compile a list of most of the films that I knew existed. I found some new websites, like the BBC, that has posted some interesting old time films about coal mining. I also learned there is a book, “Caverns of Night” that explores how coal mining has been shown in literature and the arts.
A boy from the documentary “Company Town”
Jim Rutenbeck came to West Virginia around 1982, and ended up directing his first film - about Widen, Clay County, West Virginia. Since then he has worked on many, many films, editing many of the new classics produced by WGBH in Boston. He has transfered his film from 16 mm to DVD, making it available to a new generation of people who want to understand West Virginia’s amazing history. Kelley Thompson, a new WV filmmaker, directed his own film about Clay County, “The Widen Film Project.” It’s time to go back and see the original - “Company Town.”
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