Fall 2019 Update

Fall 2019 has seen us screening our documentary on Lillian Smith at different venues (14 screenings so far) and beginning production on a film about the impressive education work of Common Good Atlanta (CGA). In 2015 we did a few interviews with instructors. Now we’re looking at the program in more depth, speaking with former incarcerated students who began taking classes while in prison, some of whom are continuing. Our film will be about the passion of everyone involved — students, volunteer instructors and program leaders Sarah Higinbotham and Bill Taft — and hopeful signs from the prison system that is paying more attention to returning citizens to their communities so they can make positive contributions.

Looking back to spring 2018, we made an informational video for West Georgia Hospice in LaGrange, Ga., which you can find here. We want to thank everyone involved in the filming, both the staff and families, for sharing their time and stories.

[Top image: LaGrange College screening of “Breaking the Silence.” Bottom image: Tariq Baiyini of Common Good Atlanta introduces the group at the Governors’ Award Ceremony at the state capitol.]

Summer Break 2019

A summer break in Chiang Mai, Thailand, visiting family. A month-long break from computer screens and cell phone beeps. And headlines. Also a month of scooters, temples, hot pavement, street food, circulating fans, beer with ice, and singing birds in cages. Now back to work, scheduling screenings of “Breaking the Silence” and sharing the words of Lillian Smith.

Carlos Museum Centennial Video

HJacobs Creative produced this short video to celebrate 100 years of the Carlos Museum of Emory University. It’s a small jewel of a museum and we’ve enjoyed countless visits there to the galleries and talks, so it was a great pleasure to bring the cameras in and listen to the stories of what makes it so special.

Premiere of Lillian Smith Documentary

It was extremely gratifying to quickly get two “sell outs” for our first preview screenings of “Lillian Smith: Breaking the Silence” at the Decatur Library (that’s Decatur, Ga.) on May 16-17 (a third sell-out screening was added on May 19th). Credit goes to our bookish Decatur community, of course, and the sponsorship/promotion by Georgia Center for the Book.

We’re finding out that there’s a Lillian Smith cult out there. Some people have been moved by her work in life-transforming ways. And this film is bringing people together in yet another way to celebrate the life and work of this nearly forgotten southern writer/activist.

We’re building on the work of others — Dr. Rose Gladney, who has spent decades researching and editing the work of Smith; Dr. Lisa Hodgens who co-edited with Gladney that fine compilation of Smith’s work and letters, “A Lillian Smith Reader” (UGA Press, 2017); Brenda Bynum, who wrote/performed/toured her one-woman show, "Jordan Is So Chilly: An Encounter with Lillian Smith"; and others who have written about and taught Smith in their classes. 

We’re very fortunate to share their voices in this documentary.

And fortunate to have the support of nearly 100 people for our fall 2018 crowdfunder.

Along with the support of the Lillian E. Smith Center of Piedmont College, Georgia Humanities, the Watson-Brown Foundation, and the GSU Center for Neighborhood and Metropolitan Studies.

We look forward to getting a lot of feedback during these May screenings. And then we’ll finalize everything over the summer and gear up for fall 2019 and spring 2020 screenings.

"Accidental Stone Mason" Earns Award of Excellence at Film Festival

A few years ago a friend was talking about her brother, an oncologist and researcher in Knoxville, who was unearthing small boulders on his property that resembled Henry Moore statues. He had also spent the last 45 years building walls and pathways across his nearly 20-acre property. As someone who appreciates pushing big rocks around on my less than one-acre in-town plot, I wanted to see for myself. A few visits later, with the help of my son, Henry, and photographer Joe Boris, and of course the “accidental stone mason” Alan Solomon, we produced a short film to commemorate his work. Happily, months later, the University of Tennessee - Knoxville came along to make sure the work will be preserved and the property used as a resource for students. We also owe thanks to the Southern Shorts Film Festival for screening the film at its January 2019 festival and recognizing it with an award of excellence.

Telling "Clean 13" Stories

We’re happy to be documenting the stories of the “Clean 13,” a project by the Georgia Water Coalition to highlight the extraordinary efforts on the part of businesses, industries, local governments, non-profit organizations, and individuals to protect the water and natural resources of Georgia.

Thirteen videos, about 90 seconds each, premiered at the Clean 13 Celebration event in March 2019 to honor the winners and are now online (see the videos).

I think we were talking about our experiences of coaching youth baseball. Hence the serious demeanor.

Artsatl.com Looks at Lillian Smith Documentary

Just received a great holiday gift — the first writeup about the forthcoming Lillian Smith documentary from Atlanta artist/writer Donna Mintz. She and I sat down at my computer to look at a very very rough cut, and she captured the essence of what we’re trying to say in our narrative. Smith’s writings certainly stand on their own. But when you see her work in the context of her life, it can’t help but deepen one’s respect and appreciation for what she did.

https://artsatl.com/breaking-the-silence-sheds-light-on-the-life-of-georgia-author-and-activist-lillian-smith/

Honoring the American Chestnut Tree

When Atlanta artist Michael Murrell told me of his project of digging up the massive stump of an ancient chestnut tree that he found in the national forest (he got permission) — and that he recorded much of it with a shaky camcorder — I thought of his work as performance art. So we put together his shaky footage with a brief interview in his studio to make this short film that honors the past — and future — of this beloved tree.

Talking about Documentaries

Emory’s Fox Center for the humanities has invited me to talk about the “new era” of documentary filmmaking, which to me means more diverse viewpoints, more distribution outlets, technological innovations that put more equipment into more hands, and more narrative techniques that allow filmmakers to tell their stories better. I’m especially talking up short documentaries because it frees up the filmmaker to be more creative instead of spending way too much time figuring out how to pad out a story into a 60- or 90-minute time block for mass media.

Highlighting a Stream Monitoring Program

Met a lot of dedicated volunteers and staff members while working on this video to promote Chattahoochee Riverkeeper's Neighborhood Water Watch program. You can learn more about the program here.

It was also my visit to Cascade Springs Nature Preserve (backdrop below). What a spectacular little park.

Documenting the Mechanical Riverfront Kingdom

Many Atlantans who live in the north DeKalb area know about it, but few have ventured off busy four-lane North Druid Hills Road (3162 N. Druid Hills Road, to be precise) to check out the best and brightest -- and only -- sculpture garden open to the public for many stop-and-go and soul-less miles around.

It's that "yard with the metal sculptures" to thousands of daily commuters and school children on yellow buses.

But spend a minute with artist Clark Ashton and you'll learn a thing or three. It's "The Commuter Gallery," begun almost 30 years ago. It's "The Mechanical Riverfront Kingdom," which includes "Faith in Industry," the "Control Tower," the "Sky Saw," the "Sky Stitcher," "The Infrastructure of an Uncertain Future," the "Bateman 5000," all situated on "Druid Hill" (a place name he hopes to make official soon with the U.S. Board on Geographic Names).

In his own words (something he is very good at in terms of describing his creative expression) he is "an artist with a keen sense of craft, a philosopher with a vision driven by self-actualization, free expression and independent thought, and a citizen with a responsibility to document our time as honestly as I am able.”

With the help of photographer/filmmaker Joe Boris, we've started talking to Clark and learning more about his work for an upcoming documentary.

In the meantime, you can find out more about Clark here:

http://www.mechanicalriverfrontkingdom.com/

https://artsatl.com/clark-ashton/

As a big fan of the nonprofit world, I was happy to work on this project with folks at the Georgia Center for Nonprofits, especially Betsy Reid, who has such a keen eye for detail. The video, which landed here, is being used to promote an ebook on best practices in the nonprofit sector.

Showcasing a Year of Shakespeare at Emory

This video about Emory's Theater Department "Year of Shakespeare" looks at the programming and great performances by students, faculty, staff, and professional actors in honor of the 400th anniversary of the bard's death. The video itself involved a lot of collaboration with the faculty and staff, especially Prof. Jan Akers, who was director of Theater Emory at the time. Hopefully, high school students interested in doing college theater will see the video and realize how creative and caring this academic community is.

Emory's IDEAS Fellowship Video

This new video explores the IDEAS fellowship program at Emory, which brings together undergraduate students from across the campus to enrich their liberal arts experiences. In the video, we wanted to capture the energy of the students in the hallway and at lunch, especially while interacting with faculty in informal settings.

Common Good Atlanta, a program that brings college-level liberal arts classroom to prisoners, celebrated its 10th anniversary on Feb. 11, 2018. In this short video, several alumni talked about how much the program means to them. We've also interviewed Georgia state senator Nan Orrock and some of the faculty who have donated their time to the program. It's a fantastic all-out volunteer effort led by Sarah Higinbotham (Georgia Tech) and Bill Taft (Georgia State). You can find more videos about the program here.

5 Years with the Emory-Tibet Science Initiative

Last week I joined Emory Professor John Malko and interpreter Tsondue Samphel for our fifth year of videotaping science lectures that are presented in both English and Tibetan for the benefit of monastics in India. This work of the Emory-Tibet Science Initiative, supported by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, provides in-depth lectures of biology, physics, neuroscience and the philosophy of science. As the Emory faculty will tell you, the learning has definitely gone both ways.

For more information on the program, see the ETP Homepage.

ATC Short Docs Highlights Southern Filmmakers

After warming up with three short-doc screening events at Avondale Towne Cinema, we're holding our first "short" short doc festival on February 5th. Awards go to the top three films and the audience will choose a favorite as well.

Please drop by if you're in the area. Doors open at 6pm. Screening & Awards from 7:00-9:00 pm. 

FREE Admission. Cash bar. Great restaurants nearby. (What more could you want?)

Top Three (3) films receive judges’ awards. The audience will choose an Audience Favorite.

In Alphabetical Order:

“Garage,” Steve Summers (A father’s garage, Anywhere, U.S.)

—the mysteries of a father’s garage and workspace, candy corn and all

“Ghosts in the Road,” Jason Hales (Atlanta)

—possible paranormal activity near Arabia Mountain

“House of Saints,” Gerry Melendez (Columbia, S.C.)

—reflections of an excon living out his days at his historic family home in Columbia, SC

“Long Haul Truckers,” Greg Miller (Atlanta)

—hail to those men and women driving the big rigs

“Matthew’s Gift,” Jon Watts (Atlanta)

—a photographer gives a precious gift to a family

“A Name that I Admire,” Sam Smartt (West Virginia)

—a hard-working farmer faces a political dilemma

“What So Proudly We Hailed,” Duane Saunders Jr.

—students from Morgan State University delve into the third verse of the “Star Spangled Banner”

Special thanks to Tony Longval at Avondale Towne Cinema for hosting the festival!

Lillian Smith Documentary

The 2016 presidential election. Black Lives Matter. Removal of Confederate monuments. Dreamers and DACA.

Lillian Smith is still so relevant today.

With searing intelligence and humanity, she addressed the psychological and social issues that lie behind these actions and more. She pushed back. As Diane Roberts writes in her 2016 Oxford American piece about Smith: “Her work showed that there was a way to live in the South and push back against the paradigm, to become part of the resistance, refusing to acquiesce in our unthinking religiosity and conservatism.”

We want to introduce another generation to her story and courage. She influenced countless lives, befriended Civil Rights Movements leaders including Martin Luther King, Jr., and gave a voice to what others were thinking but were too afraid to say in public. She was the first white southern writer to speak about the evils of segregation (in the 1930s), describing the harmful effects on both whites and blacks.

This documentary will explore her legacy and the life journey that led to her awakening, from her childhood experiences in the small north Florida town of Jasper, teaching in China, running a girls' summer camp in the north Georgia mountains, to becoming a bestselling author and activist.

We're fortunate to have the backing of Piedmont College’s Lillian E. Smith Center and the Georgia Humanities for this project -- as well as fiscal sponsorship through the Southern Documentary Fund -- and look forward to partnering with other groups and individuals in the months ahead. 

For updates on this project, see links below:

http://www.hjacobscreative.com/lillian-s-documentary/

https://www.facebook.com/lsmithdoc/

http://southerndocumentaryfund.org/projects/lillian-smith-documentary-working-title/

Endnote: Mary Crovatt Hambidge, the subject of my last documentary, and Lillian Smith both lived near Clayton, Ga., in the north Georgia mountains. How this one little mountainous area produced two very independent and outspoken women (no evidence of a friendship there), along with the Foxfire project, is another story.

Wrapping up "See Change" Video Series

Chattahoochee Riverkeeper approached us in fall 2016 to produce a series of short videos that would show people who live in the watershed—the river drains an area of 8,770 square miles—talking about the weather-related changes they've seen.

So we identified a few key areas and occupations up and down the river: the headwaters (fishermen, paddlers), Lake Lanier (boaters), Atlanta (gardeners), South Georgia (agriculture), and Apalachicola River or Bay (wildlife).

We appreciate everyone who spent time with us, sharing their observations. Yes, it's important that scientists and public policy people talk to each other about a warming planet, but until everyone starts having these conversations -- and seeing how we're all connected -- it's hard to see anything changing.

You can find the individual videos here: https://chattahoochee.org/see-change/

For the CRK Climate Change Conference (Sept. 27-28) and Patron Dinner, we produced a five-minute video (below) that brings together all the interviews (and nice drone footage by Henry Jacobs) to give people a birds-eye view of the river.

The Chattahoochee River drains an immense area of 8,770 square miles — and Chattahoochee Riverkeeper is talking to people about the changes they've seen in the watershed from the headwaters to the bay. (photo by Joe Boris Photography, www.joeboris.com)

Our New Startup... The Avondale Towne Cinema Short Docs Festivals

With the collaboration of my younger son Henry Jacobs and my friend (and commercial photographer) Joe Boris, we've started organizing bi-monthly film screenings at a 1920s movie theater in Avondale Estates, Ga. We don't have a mission statement (thank God),* but we are screening short documentaries around different themes (e.g., water, work, politics, adoption), and we're organizing a film festival in February 2018 that will hand out awards and those little laurels you see on award-winning films.

This really feels like a golden age of documentaries in terms of getting the right equipment into the right hands of people who want to tell a good story. So we happy to help get the word out. 

www.towneshortdocs.com

*Okay, if we had a mission, it might be to entertain, enlighten and energize our community with soulful films about the South.