Southern Lens

Seeing into Being: The Scrap Iron Art of Charlie Grimsley by Stan Woodward

South Carolina filmmaker Stan Woodward and folklorist John Burrison make an unexpected discovery along a back road in Georgia.

...more information

Thursday - September 11, 2008 at 10:00 pm
5104 page views, 0 Comments

Grass Roots: The Enduring Art of the Lowcountry Basket

by Dana Sardet and the College of Charleston Center for Documentary.

America’s oldest African-inspired art is the subject of this exciting new film—a visual feast that captures the skill, artistry, and history embodied in the tradition of coiled grass basketry. We follow basket makers of Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina, as they harvest materials, create their baskets, and talk about the meaning of their work. From field to market, this half-hour documentary explores the current state of the art and its prospects for the future. This film accompanies a traveling exhibition entitled Grass Roots: African Origins of an American Art that will be on display through November 30, 2008, at the Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston.

Produced by the Center for the Documentary, College of Charleston, in association with the Avery Research Center for African American History & Culture and the Museum for African Art in New York. Director/videographer/editor: Dana Sardet, Executive producer: Virginia T. Friedman, Original music composed by Quentin Baxter with gospel songs by We Be Brethren, Gullah Kinfolk, and the Staple Singers; Community advisors: Henrietta Snype and Nakia Wigfall, Consulting historian: Dale Rosengarten

Funding provided by :
Henry & Sylvia Yaschik Foundation, Gaylord & Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, Humanities CouncilSC, South Carolina Arts Commission, South Carolina National Heritage Corridor

Sincere thanks to the Sweetgrass Cultural Arts Festival Association for help and encouragement.

...more information

Thursday - September 18, 2008 at 10:00 pm
5134 page views, 0 Comments

A Song for Pumpkin Brown and Search

Two short narrative films by Lowcountry filmmaker Brad Jayne.

A Song for Pumpkin Brown is set in 1961, Song of Pumpkin Brown begins as ten-year old Pumpkin Brown (Khari Lucas) loses his preacher father (Micheal L. Nesbitt) and their rural South Carolina home. Sent to the Jenkins Orphanage in Charleston, SC, the shy, lonely boy is introduced to the jazz trumpet as a means of dealing with his grief - a vital creative outlet that will set Pumpkin on his destined course as a professional musician.

In Search, a lonely housekeeper faces death and dying in Search, a dramatic and provoking short film written and directed by Brad Jayne. Set in 1986, Sonora (Ruth Ann Oliver) becomes enigmatically drawn to the plight of a missing autistic boy (Khari Lucas), a strange connection growing as the fate of the child becomes more and more dire. But what is it that forged this strange fascination, and what is the dark secret the quiet woman hides? Search bravely…humbly…powerfully contemplates the uncertainty of mortality and the fear borne from its mysteries.

...more information

Thursday - September 25, 2008 at 10:00 pm
5382 page views, 0 Comments