Participation Type
Performance
Session Title
Session 1.04 Music
Presentation #1 Title
The Telling Takes Me Home - Music and Movements in Appalachia
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
I would be happy to present a short film that I produced, directed and edited in 2005. The film honors the work of Guy and Candie Carawan and includes wonderful and diverse music from the Appalachian region. This film could easily be paired or packaged with other related presentations or panelists. *** Music and memory tell the story of Guy and Candie Carawan, activists and folk singers who have carried their work from the deep south of the Civil Rights Movement to the coalfields of Appalachia and through to today. Interweaving past and present, the filmmaker integrates her own reflections on growing up in a rich musical and political landscape with her parents’ views on race relations, community organizing, and the sustaining power of song. This half-hour documentary includes footage from the Highlander Research and Education Center, where Heather spent most of her childhood. Additionally, the film pays tribute to Southern regional musicians such as Nimrod Workman, Florence Reece, Hazel Dickens, Chuck Neblett, and Matthew Jones.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
Heather Carawan is a documentary filmmaker and educator. She has served as Associate Producer on a number of documentary films including Pete McCloskey: Leading from the Front (part of the Truly CA KQED broadcast series), Plagues and Pleasures on the Salton Sea (winner of 37 awards for Best Documentary), and The Bridge So Far A Suspense Story (multiple Emmy Award-winner).
Carawan’s documentary, The Telling Takes Me Home, a portrait of long time musicians and activists Guy & Candie Carawan, was broadcast on East Tennessee Public Television and as part of the Southern Lens series on ETV, Columbia, South Carolina. It also won Best Appalachian Short at the Southern Appalachian International Film Festival and Best Personal Narrative at the San Francisco Women’s Film Festival.
In 2004 Carawan completed the MFA Cinema program at San Francisco State University. She moved to Tacoma, WA in 2005 and currently teaches Documentary Film Studies at Pierce College and works as a freelance video producer and editor.
The Telling Takes Me Home - Music and Movements in Appalachia
I would be happy to present a short film that I produced, directed and edited in 2005. The film honors the work of Guy and Candie Carawan and includes wonderful and diverse music from the Appalachian region. This film could easily be paired or packaged with other related presentations or panelists. *** Music and memory tell the story of Guy and Candie Carawan, activists and folk singers who have carried their work from the deep south of the Civil Rights Movement to the coalfields of Appalachia and through to today. Interweaving past and present, the filmmaker integrates her own reflections on growing up in a rich musical and political landscape with her parents’ views on race relations, community organizing, and the sustaining power of song. This half-hour documentary includes footage from the Highlander Research and Education Center, where Heather spent most of her childhood. Additionally, the film pays tribute to Southern regional musicians such as Nimrod Workman, Florence Reece, Hazel Dickens, Chuck Neblett, and Matthew Jones.
