Ellis Dungan in India

Ellis Dungan was one of the first people in West Virginia to make a living directing documentaries in the film. He did this after living in Paris and co-founding the Tamil film industry in Madras, India. He also worked on several  Hollywood films including, “Tarzan Goes to India,” and the TV show, “Andy and His Gang.” In 1958, he returned to WV, living in Wheeling for the rest of his life until he died Dec. 1, 2001. Recently a librarian notified a listserv for video librarians that she was looking for Tamil films that he directed.

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Robert Redford has narrated “Fighting Goliath - Texas Coal Wars,” a new 35 minute documentary about a coalition of mayors, ranchers, CEOs, community groups, legislators, lawyers, and citizens  who  come together to oppose the construction of  19 power plants that were slated to be built in Eastern and Central Texas. They were being fast-tracked by the Governor of Texas because of his belief that the state needed the energy in a hurry. During the course of the film, TXU, the energy company, was purchased, and offered to cut the number of plants. Unfortunately, the remaining plants would pollute more than all 19 of the originally planned facilities. (more…)

Burning the Future - Coal in America has been nominated for the 2008 Pare Lorentz Award given out by the International Documentary Association (IDA). The IDA recently sponsored a showing of the previous winners of the award along with films by Lorentz and related films like “The Grapes of Wrath,” based on the Nobel Prize winning book by John Steinbeck who worked with Lorentz on one of his films. “Burning” was selected in October 2008 as the “best film” at the WV Filmmakers Festival and has won many awards.

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Marcy Brenner with WV filmmaker Ray Schmitt

Hardy County, WV filmmaker Ray Schmitt has won an international competition for his short film version of  “Dead Girl Walking.” The film is about Marcy Brenner, a singer-songwriter living on Ocracoke Island, NC who developed breast cancer. The film winning the award is a 10-minute trailer posted on line at the Breast Fest Film Festival where people could vote for their favorite film.  (more…)

 Sid Hatfield, the hero of The Matewan Massacre

Dr. Fred Barkey is one of my biggest WV heroes, and one of two historical consultants for a “lost” WV documentary called “In the Company’s Hands.” The 1987 film, produced by WSWP-TV in Beckley, WV, was directed by Jack Kelly. It was shown on WVPBS on November 27, 1987, just about a month  after “Matewan” premiered in WV at the WVIFF, Capitol Plaza Theater, downtown Charleston. Talk about showing the influence of Sayles’ landmark film on WV culture!

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Les Blank is going to be honored with a retrospective of his films at one of NYC’s legendary film theaters, Film Forum, November 14-20th, one week. He is an old friend of mine, even helping me out as best man at our wedding on St. Patrick’s Day, 1980, at the Dunbar Public Library. He had flown to WV to introduce his films that were shown at the Dunbar Public Library after the wedding and a champaign infused New Orleans feast.( Thanks eternally to WV librarian Steve Crowley, now in Florida.)  He also came to WV as a guest of the WVIFF one fall, traveling to Elkins to show some films at The Augusta Heritage Festival. ( We stopped off in Looneyville on the way up where Les postmarked cards to friends.) I programmed the world premiere of his great New Orleans film, “Always for Pleasure,” at the University Film Society in spring 1977, hiring a Greek chef to make Cajun cuisine for the event. Several of Blank’s filmshave been selected to be preserved forever by the National Film Register and he has won many awards including a British Academy Award for “Burden of Dreams” and the Maya Deren Award given by the American Film Institute to the best independent filmmaker.

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Mr. Shaffer with some of his coonhunting trophies

PRESS RELEASE from SCM - The South Charleston Museum will present the world premiere of Terry Lively’s new film, “Coondog Heaven,”  about Shaffer’s Training Center, one of the nation’s leading centers for training coondogs on November 8^th at 7 PM at The La Belle Theater.  Admission is $4.00. Filmmaker Lively and Mr. Shaffer will be present to introduce the film and take questions afterwards. (more…)

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.

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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.

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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.  

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