Amos Perrine, one of West Virginia’s leading film experts, e-mailed me recently about watching a TV program on October 5, 1964 on “The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.” The program was called “The Return of Verge Likens.” It was written by West Virginia’s own Davis Grubb and starred a young Peter Fonda. (more…)

Dr. Fred Pollock, president of the WV Jewish Film Festival, and myself have been working with the The Simon & Ida Meyer West Virginia Jewish Reunion to find a film to show during their biennial gathering. Simon Meyer was a pioneer chemical engineer in Charleston who supported the Jewish Cultural Series. The reunion  will be showing  “Adam Resurrected” (2008), at 7:45 PM on Thursday, August 13th, at the Park Place Stadium Theaters in downtown Charleston. It is FREE and open to the public. (more…)

 Kim Johnson playing Uncle Homer Walker banjo, loaned to her by Clay County musician Dave Morris who had loaned it to Walker.  She is playing with Ashland musician Rob McNurlin in Ashland in 2007. Truly a legendary banjo!

“Banjo Man” about Uncle Homer Walker is one of the very best films ever made about any West Virginia musician. I purchased a 16 mm film many years ago, and regularly loaned it to the John Henry Memorial Foundation festival, once located near Bluefield, now residing near Morgantown, directed by Ed Cabell. I stopped seeing Mr. Cabell because of health problems, etc. but every so often I would recommend it to people.

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Lonnie Thompson, according to one writer has spent more time living over 18,000 feet than any man ever. I read read several local newspaper articles about Dr. Thompson, but the Nova Science Now program I watched last night was truly awesome. Given the importance of WV coal in our current discussion of climate change, I think that virtually everyone in the state should see this amazing story about a world-class expert who grew up outside of Gassaway. The website has links to good articles about his work and more. (To buy a DVD copy.)

Anne Lewis
512-656-0507 (cell)
www.annelewis.org <http://annelewis.org> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEAppalshop is now streaming Anne Lewis’s 1986 full-length documentary
Mine War on Blackberry Creek at
[http://appalshop.org/film/minewar/stream.html]. Appalshop will be reissuing the film on DVD this August, bringing it back into print at a time of renewed public interest in the Massey Energy Company and its Chairman and CEO Don Blankenship. (more…)

 As we approach the 100th anniversary of The Battle of Blair Mountain, August 25-September 2, 1921, the events of that dangerous summer are coming back in to focus. Thanks to William C. Blizzard, the son of the leader of The Battle, Bill Blizzard, we have a much more accurate description of the Coal Wars as reported in his book, “When Miners March.” Luckily for all of us, Wess Harris published the book in 2005, and has done a great job selling more than 5,000 copies around the state and region. He is presently working on a second edition that will come out sometime this fall. We are all very lucky to have listened to the “audio movie” that Harris’ collaborator, Ross Ballard II, has created, complete with special effects and music that add depth to the living version he created for MountainWhispers.com, West Virginia’s award-winning audio book company.

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Finally, Dr. Barkey and Cathy Pleska have published a list of WV labor films I put together about a year ago. Below is the front and page covers plus an inside page with info on WVLHA founding member Lois McLane, who was twice chosen to be a WV History Hero, and info on Wess Harris, a current board member who was chosen to be a 2009 WV History Hero. We will all miss Mrs. McLane who did so much to get the WVLHA going. At a Saturday board meeting, members voted on inducing two new members of their WV Labor Hall of Honor to be inducted during a presentation during the 2009 WV Book Festival. The group will also be putting materials in its new office in the Labor Building in downtown Charleston. Dr. Fred Barkey is busy with many projects, and Wess Harris will be publishing a second edition of “When Miners March.” Below are the introductions I wrote plus my list of WV labor films. (more…)

David Novack e-mailed me that his great 2008 feature film starring 2009 Goldman Award winner Maria Gunnoe has won another major award - the top prize for in-depth television reporting from the Society for Environmental Journalism. ( Ken Ward from the Charleston Gazette is a member.) Last fall BTF received the top award in the WORLD for socially active documentaries, The Pare Lorentz Award. It has also won many other awards including “best film” at the 2008 WV Filmmakers Festival. Congrats to Mr. Novack and his colleagues. I hope more West Virginians get to see the film. ( It premiered at the WV International Film Festival in spring 2008.)

A still from Coal Country by Mari-Lynn Evans and Phylis Geller 

Adapted from the essay –

“A Lifetime in the Mines –An Essay on Watching Films about Coal Mining” 

  The next generation of films about coal mine began in 1998 with Charleston filmmaker Robert Gates’ film, “All Shaken Up.”This film was made with U.S. News & World Reporter writer Penny Loeb who wrote the first national story for that publication on the effects of mountaintop removal (MTR)  mining on the people who lived in the communities where this new form of coal mine was taking place. They interviewed 45 residents in southern West Virginia who had their wells destroyed, and their homes seriously damaged by the super-use of explosives that blast the top off mountains. The film was shown by at least one Charleston garden club whose members were horrified when they saw the damage to people’s new homes in the coalfields. The film was also shown at the state library conference at the Greenbrier. (more…)

 Dr. Fred Pollock, president of the WV Jewish Film Festival on your left with guest speaker, WV legendary basketball player Nemo Nearman on your right

Dr. Fred Pollock, president of the WV Jewish Film Festival, introduced Nemo Nearman to almost 100 viewers on Sunday, July 19th, at the WV Cultural Center. After Nearman’s 30 minute presentation, the 2008 documentary on the importance of basketball to Jewish immigrants during the first half of the 20th century, “The First Basket,” was shown. Many of Mr. Nearman’s senior basketball friends were in attendance, getting to see his 30 minute presentation on his incredible life in basketball. It was a very nice summer cultural center, celebrating one of WV’s greatest althetes plus revealing an amazing history of basketball, “the world’s second most popular sport.”

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