We want all to have access to these films to get to know the people in them and experience their art and culture; hear a history of collective action and a wide range of ideas for social progress from the source.
On Dying of Dementia in a Capitalist System is showing on PBS Shorts.
Un Trip: raúlrsalinas and the Poetry of Liberation is currently password protected because of festival and other distribution requirements. The filmmakers are happy to share information.
Appalshop created a powerful and authentic kind of documentary filmmaking along with others emerging from the social and cultural movement of the 1960’s and ’70’s. Much of Appalshop’s work has been made available on the Appalshop YouTube Channel. I strongly recommend all the films and extras on the channel. Direct links to films with pages on this site are listed below under grassroots use. DVD’s can be purchased through the Appalshop webstore.
SCREENINGS and FESTIVALS
If you are considering a screening, have questions, have issues with access or would like to respond to the film please contact: Anne Lewis: annelewis615@gmail.com
INSTITUTIONAL USE
A Strike and an Uprising (in Texas), The Women on the Bus, Texas Majority Minority, are available through this site. Please contact Anne Lewis annelewis615@gmail.com
For Appalshop work, to arrange licensing for university libraries and other institutions contact:
Appalshop, 91 Madison Ave. Whitesburg, Kentucky 41858 (800)545-7467.
Anne Braden: Southern Patriot is distributed by California Newsreel and Appalshop. The film streams on Kanopy and on Appalshop’s YouTube Channel.
Morgan Sexton: Banjo Player from Bull Creek and His Eye is on the Sparrow stream on Folkstreams.
GRASSROOTS USE
Grassroots organizations, labor union locals, and home viewers have public access to most films through vimeo and youtube links. The only exceptions are films that are currently on festival runs. Links to specific films and connected websites follow in alphabetical order with dates, run times and a few notes.
A Strike and an Uprising (in Texas) website and film 65:17 2018, “weaves together an alternative history of Texas from the pecan shellers of the early twentieth century through the removal of the Jefferson Davis statue from the University of Texas, Austin, in 2015. The connections between past and present-day struggles are vividly rendered.” Aviva Chomsky I think of this film as the monument that replaces the removed statue of Jefferson Davis: a monument to equality and freedom against one of oppression. Alessandro Portelli.
A Tribute to Carl D, Perkins 28:30, 1984, the powerful U.S. Representative from eastern Kentucky, Chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, crucial for advancing Great Society programs.
Anne Braden: Southern Patriot 67:00 2012 in partnership with Mimi Pickering; funded in part by the Southern Humanities Media Fund. “A gem of a film, accented with freedom fighters who speak firsthand about carving a path through a traumatized, violent, racist South, to make way for one of the largest and most effective nonviolent movements for social change the world has ever seen.” Joan Baez. “A magnificent portrait of the Anne Braden I knew: militantly anti-racist, and radical to the core. Anne Braden changed my life; this film will change yours.” Robin D.G. Kelley.
Annie Mae Carpenter and the Uprising in Nacogdoches website and film
Belinda 28:00, 1992, “speaks eloquently for a generation of HIV-infected people. wonderfully sensitizing to the human condition.” John Standridge, M.D. CINE Golden Eagle; Mayor’s EarthPeace Award, EarthPeace International Film Festival; New York Film Festival; USA Film Festival0; Women in the Director’s Chair. 1993; Bronze Apple, National Educational Film Festival,
Chemical Valley with Mimi Pickering 56:40 PBS national broadcast on POV; Blue Ribbon, American Film and Video Festival; Blue Ribbon, U.S. Environmental Film Festival; Special Jury Award Big Muddy Film Festival.
Emma Tenayuca and the 1938 San Antonio Pecan Shellers Strike (website and film)
Evelyn Williams 27:40, 1995, “…what much of feminist analysis and theory misses, the lived reality of women’s lives.” Jean Grossholtz, Mount Holyoke College. “the struggle to keep our own, keep keepin’ on.” Ed Cabbell, John Henry Center. Museum of American Broadcast; Margaret Meade Film Festival; Juror’s Choice, Black Maria Film Festival.
Fast Food Women 27:30, 1991 “a must-see film about women who are part of the nation’s ‘working poor.'” The Minneapolis Star Tribune. “a stinging indictment of an industry that takes unfair advantage of people struggling to make ends meet.” The Chicago Tribune. PBS National Broadcast on POV. American Film and Video Festival; Baltimore International Film Festival; Certificate of Merit Chicago International Film Festival; International Labor Film and Video Festival; Judge’s Choice Award, London Film Festival.
Five Conversations about Violence
Hands On, 28:30, 1992 explores a student-centered democratically run classroom in eastern Kentucky.
Hard Times in the Country: the Schools
His Eye is on the Sparrow 26:40, 2003, “captures Ethel Caffie-Austin in all her splendid humanity,” Jude Binder. “the importance of culture and religion in shaping community life,” John David, Southern Appalachian Labor School. International Festival of Cinema and Technology; Dallas Film Festival; St. Louis Film Festival; Cine Las Americas; shown on PBS stations (52% national coverage).
Justice in the Coalfields 56:30, 1995, “A compelling, timely, and important documentary” Tom Zaniello. Gold Plaque, International Communication Film and Video Festival; Big Muddy Film Festival; International Labor Film and Video Festival, Seoul, Korea, 1995; Sinking Creek Film Festival; ITVS funded.
Mabel Parker Hardison Smith 28:30, 1986, African American teacher in the coalfields for 35 years and gospel musician. Anthros the Barbara Myerhoff Film Festival; Atlanta Film and Video Festival; Chicago Community Television award.
Mine War on Blackberry Creek 28:30, 1986, about the United Mine Workers strike against A.T. Massey Coal. Global Village Festival; American Film and Video Festival; Athens Film and Video Festival; Big Muddy Film Festival; BACA/Brooklyn Arts Council.
Minnie Black’s Gourd Band 28:30, 1989.Owl Award from the Retirement Research Foundation for positive portrayal of older Americans; screening at the Museum of Modern Art).
Morgan Sexton: Banjo Player from Bull Creek about the National Heritage Award winner. American Film and Video Festival; Margaret Meade Film Festival. Streaming on FolkStreams along with transcript and filmmaker notes.
Morristown: in the air and sun 60:00 2007, “brings the complex issue of globalization down to its human level where workers on both sides of the border, men and women, struggle to survive.” Howard Zinn, Author, A People’s History of the United States. U.S. Social Forum; Library of Congress Laborlore; Austin Film Festival; AMBULANTE Festival (16 cites in Mexico); Best Foreign Feature Documentary, International Film Festival of the Border.
On Dying of Dementia in a Capitalist System (website)
On Our Own Land 28:30, 1989 “illustrates a conflict that won’t go away, in which the texture of community is pitted against the drive towards profit.” Pat Aufderheide, In These Times. Alfred I. duPont/Columbia University Award for Independent Broadcast Journalism; finalist, American Film and Video Festival; Robert Flaherty Seminar.
Peace Stories 28:30, 1990, experiences of three veterans from the south who decided that war is wrong. Special Merit Award EarthPeace International Film Festival; National Organizers Alliance meeting.
Ready for Harvest: Clearcutting in the Appalachians Best of Show North American Association for Environmental Education; San Francisco Environmental Film Festival; Silver Plaque-INTERCOM.
Red Fox/Second Hanging (editor)
Rough Side of the Mountain 56:40, 1997, “dramatically different economic renewal strategies in an increasingly global economy,” Steve Fisher. Director’s Citation, Black Maria Film and Video Festival; National Council on Foundations; Louisville Film and Video Festival.
Sarah Bailey
Shelter 56:40, 2001, “thank you so much for validating 30 years of my life’s work” chapter president, Katy, Texas NOW. “a quietly spectacular achievement,” Barbara Garson, NYC author. Funded by ITVS; 2004 screening, Bass Lecture Hall, UT; 2003 benefit screening, the HideOut; 2003 screening, the Kentucky Theater, Louisville, Kentucky; 2002 New Jersey Film Festival; 2004 Great Lakes Film Festival; 2003 Philadelphia International Festival; 2001 West Virginia Filmmakers’ Festival; Appalachian Studies Conference.
So Was Einstein: A Look at Dyslexic Children
Texas Majority Minority 10:30, 2004 in collaboration with Heather Courtney and Laura Varela, part of the “Voting in America” project. Pioneer Theater, N.Y.C.; Echo Theater, Dallas; presented to the Hispanic caucus at the Texas Democratic Convention.
To Save the Land and People 56:40, 1999 “downright truth telling of a defeat without despair” George Stoney, New York University. “Extraordinarily powerful and moving… a masterpiece deserving of national and international recognition,” Herb Reid Mountain Justice Film Festival; Jurors’ Award, Louisville Film and Video Festival; SxSW
Un Trip: raúlrsalinas and the Poetry of Liberation website 25:08 2023 with Laura Varela, a split screen jazz documentary based on the poem by raúlrsalinas “Un Trip through the Mind Jail” written in Leavenworth prison. Cine Las Americas Hecho en Tejas award; San Diego Latino Film Festival; “50 Years of Partial Freedom” Symposium, UT Benson Center; Moody College of Communications Creative Achievement award.
Yellow Creek, Kentucky 28:30, 1986 about a community’s efforts to resolve a toxics issue. Finalist American Film and Video Festival, Atlanta Film and Video Festival, nominated for a Chicago area Emmy.