Appalshop

For Nixon's first public appearance since resigning the presidency, Richard Nixon chose the small mountain community of Leslie County, Kentucky. Priceless footage of Nixon's 1978 visit introduces this incisive and sometimes hilarious look at the engines that drive American politics. The film explores the machinations of party politics in this rural and staunchly Republican county: hollow to hollow vote-hunting; family squabbles over candidates; patronage promises; speech-making on the courthouse steps; and the up-and-down career of the incumbent county Judge-Executive who sought re-election while under indictment for vote fraud conspiracy

Anne Braden: Southern Patriot is a first person documentary about the extraordinary life of this American civil rights leader. Braden was hailed by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in his 1963 Letter from Birmingham Jail as a white southerner whose rejection of her segregationist upbringing was eloquent and prophetic. Ostracized as a red in the 1950s, she fought for an inclusive movement community and mentored three generations of social justice advocates. Braden’s story explores not only the dangers of racism and political repression but also the power of a woman’s life spent in commitment to social justice.

Coal Bucket Outlaw is a documentary that asks Americans to look at where our energy comes from at a time when coal still produced over half of our nation's electricity, and reveals the human and environmental price we pay for our national addiction to fossil fuels. Built around a day in the life of a Kentucky coal truck driver, the film brings viewers into the cab of the truck and into the lives of the people who live and work by coal haul roads for a truly wild ride. A veteran driver who owns his own truck, and a young family struggling to pay the bills guide the audience along one-lane roads, up tight hollows, onto strip mines, and around coal processing facilities, while discussion of coal’s role in providing our nation with electricity connects the lives of these truckers to the lives of everyone in America.

In their efforts to better their children’s education, the residents of this small West Virginia community found themselves face to face with an unfeeling, bureaucratic political structure. "Struggle of Coon Branch Mountain" documents their fight for a better road and decent schools, an effort that includes organizing the community, setting up their own school, and finally a march on the governor’s office. The film ends with a partial victory and determination to continue the struggle, and will be of interest to community organizers, as well as students of education, public policy, and rural issues.

1974 documentary about Clarence Frederick "Catfish" Gray a herbalist and folk doctor in West Virginia.

There is a constant tension between the forces of an ever-changing economy and the need to have stable communities. As technologies change, workers can lose their jobs and whole communities can be capsized. Beyond Measure looks at thousands of coal miners who are losing their jobs as newer and bigger machine moves through the coalfields. The film places the present challenges in a larger historical context and documents efforts of citizens to rebuild their communities, highlighting the beauty and challenges of living in the mountains through people's descriptions of their daily lives in their own voices. They describe how the mutual aid and support of extended families and attachments to the land are more important than the things economists usually measure, prompting questions about the true costs of economic and technological change.

Artist Angie DeBord tells stories, both verbally and through her beautifully colorful paintings, representing Appalachian folklore, myth, and her ancestors.

The experience of artmaking in Appalachia is a complex one. An Appalachian identity often creates a distinctive and strong relationship between person and homeplace, but artists are told they need to leave the region in order to learn and innovate. Being told to leave home and to escape tradition is a hard thing to reckon with, both as a person and an artist. When the artists we interviewed left home, their connection with a homeplace was what inspired them creatively much more than the urban, non-Appalachian communities they joined. As young artists in Appalachia, we wanted to learn from their innovations and their experiences of coming home in “The Art of Finding Home.”