Southern Circuit synergy at work!

Last Friday, Southern Circuit film alum, Sahkanaga, screened at The Majestic in Chattanooga, TN, and they debuted a very exciting and . . . familiar new cover design:

Design by Aubrey Meng Zhu of SCAD University

Poster Entry by Zhu from back in April

The featured artwork originated in Savannah, GA, as the winning entry of a poster contest to celebrate the Southern Circuit screening of Sahkanaga at the Lucas Theatre. The design, which was selected the winner by the touring filmmaker, John Henry Summerour, made quite an impression. Now the artwork graces the film's DVD cover. This version of the DVD will be available for sale on the Sahkanaga website and Amazon in 2013. South Arts congratulates Aubrey on her accomplishment and is very glad to see filmmakers taking more than memories away from their tours. We can't wait to get our own copy!

SAHKANAGA - Days 6 thru 9

#6 CLEMSON - The Greenville, SC, airport is a strangely soothing place. The approach is beautifully landscaped, reminiscent of the entrance to the Biltmore Estate. (I'm not kidding.) The road softly winds past flowers and greenery, ending at a dramatic display of spraying water. Inside, the dining room basks in daylight that filters through lush trees and a wall of windows that stretch upwards of 30 feet. There's also a lovely lunch counter with a killer short-order cook. Poached eggs, bacon and grits - all perfectly cooked. And the best cup of coffee I've had on the entire trip.

This bucolic surprise extends to the Clemson University campus where shiny, happy students traverse wide lawns, tossing footballs while dreaming up a cure for cancer. WHERE AM I?

I met my host, Amy, and some students for a sandwich before the screening. The questions from the students, over sandwiches and during the Q&A, revealed a student body that is curious, discerning and articulate. I tried to convey the importance of recognizing their academic and social privilege so that they can accept the responsibility of using it for positive social, cultural and political change. I could sense a lot of hope and ambition in that room. I even met a woman from the community who asked if she could adopt me, and a gentleman who had traveled to Tanzania where he encountered the burial ritual of leaving a corpse out in the open for hyenas to eat.

The best part is that the car rental company asked if I would prefer a mini-van or pickup truck. They gave me the biggest truck I've ever seen (besides a U-Haul or the equipment truck we drove during filming). The Dodge Ram. I almost returned it because it was too much truck for me, but I tamed that beast over twisting mountain roads to my Uncle David's cabin in the DuPont State Forest.

#7 MONTGOMERY - Uncle David is the Forest Supervisor at one of North Carolina's crown jewels - the DuPont State Forest. Over 10,000 acres of mountains, lakes, waterfalls, and trails. Unfortunately, I was only able to spend the night because I had to leave before sunrise to catch a flight to Montgomery.

The Capri is an old theatre in the Cloverdale neighborhood, and a rarity among smaller American cities - a bleeding heart indie/art house cinema.

Next time you find yourself in Montgomery, please catch a flick at the Capri, and grab a drink at a phenomenal new bar behind the theatre - Leroy.

This leg of the journey was made extra special by my longtime friends Janet & Jason driving down from Birmingham to spend the afternoon with me. I met Janet at summer camp when we were 14-years-old, and besides being an amazing friend and musician, Janet put her life on hold to assist our Production Designer, Kay Lee, during the shoot. She was my bunkmate, my unofficial on-set therapist, and I love her to pieces.

They're also the type of friends who can spend the afternoon relaxing in a park, talking or not talking, bare feet on warm grass, enjoying the effortless comfort that is the reward after years of friendship and shared experience.

I definitely hit a wall of exhaustion in Montgomery. After the screening, we returned to Janet's parents' house and I literally felt like gravity was pulling me forward. I couldn't even stay up to chat. Southern Circuit Zombified!

#8 ALEXANDRIA - I cannot, under any circumstances, recommend the Econo-Lodge in Alexandria, LA. By far the most disastrous Hotwire reservation ever, I entered the Econo-Lodge (inexplicably awarded two stars on Hotwire) parking lot which was completely deserted except for a white mini-van with no hubcaps and two blown-out tires, and a little girl standing outside the entrance with her back to me. Across the parking lot at the neighboring hotel I saw three men escort a woman in a tiny yellow dress into one of the rooms upstairs. The little girl had a blonde ponytail and she wore jean shorts with a rainbow-striped tube top. She seemed to be absorbed in an iPhone or something. When I approached the door she turned around revealing about 8-months of pregnancy. I don't know how she stayed balanced since her stomach was equal in size to her entire person. I checked in and drove around back to find my room. Shirtless dudes congregated in back of the hotel, sitting on the curb, waiting for... the woman in the yellow dress?

The door to my room wouldn't open so I gave it a little kick and it snapped forward, the light from the hall spilling into darkness as a roach scurried across the wall and an oppressive stale smokiness pushed itself out, as though the air was trying to flee the confines of that sad room. The baseboard had been ripped from the wall, plaster and all. Tiny specks of daylight blazed through the holes. I decided to take a quick shower and head to the venue, taking all of my belongings because it just didn't feel safe.

Alexandria is a mid-sized city in the center of Louisiana, and it reminded me a lot of Chattanooga, TN, in the '80s, before the revitalization efforts of the '90s which transformed Chattanooga into a vibrant tourist destination. Positioned along the Red River, Alexandria has great potential, and most astonishingly it's home to a gorgeous, state-of-the-art, huuuuuuuge arts complex - the Coughlin-Saunders Performing Arts Center. By far the most pristine projection on the entire tour, the film looked and sounded great, though it was surreal to watch the movie in a 615-seat theatre with 30 people.

Afterwards I met my saviors, David & Nicole Holcombe. Transplants from San Francisco and Brussels, they have lived in Alexandria for over 25 years. They found out I was staying in the Econo-Lodge, and since David works for the Department of Public Health he's privy to the hotel's bedbug infestations, so they insisted that I check out and stay with them for the night. Passionate art collectors, their house is filled with funky, colorful pieces from all over. The next morning we got to share a relaxed breakfast al fresco with greek yogurt and local strawberries before I returned to the airport. I love the Holcombes. They quite possibly saved my life.

#9 THOMASVILLE - On this trip I've been spending a lot of time in the Atlanta airport, and I've been surprised by the number of people I've seen in tears. At one gate I sat next to a large man in a white suit who broke down while talking on the phone to someone he loved but felt manipulated by. At another gate a tan woman in tight jeans and a sequined Harley-Davidson t-shirt sat across from me and revealed, through multiple phone conversations with her son, mother & lover, that she had applied for a domestic violence grant in Miami so that she could qualify for a free trip to an undisclosed rehab center in the Appalachians. She had acquired too many "jail points" as a prostitute, so she needed to go away for 30-90 days and get clean. She asked her son not to forget her. She asked him not to get married until she was able to come home.

Thomasville, on the other hand, is a charming town in south Georgia, where people seem pretty darn happy. The Thomasville Center for the Arts  is housed in an old school that has been beautifully restored, on par with any renovation/repurposing I've seen in New York. They decided to pair the SAHKANAGA screening with an art opening featuring the works of Carol Christie and Karl Zerbe.

The evening began with a wine & beer reception (amazing homemade poppy bleu cheese thumbprints with raspberry preserves!) and live upright bass from a young Tallahassee musician who plays with the Zach Bartholomew Trio. I really enjoyed chatting with everyone, and afterwards at the dessert & coffee reception I met a teacher who brought his class to view the Karl Zerbe exhibit, which features a series of paintings inspired by the Civil Rights movement in Albany, GA, and one of his black students pulled him aside and asked, "Does this museum ever show paintings by black artists?"

This tour has me thinking a lot about the lack of integration in the arts, which should be one of its greatest advantages - the ability to communicate diverse cultural experiences and bridge social gaps through exchange and understanding. But that is not often the case.

As a filmmaker I'm hoping to tell stories about communities that are not represented often or well in movies, but beyond that, I'm interested in figuring out ways to bring independent film to communities with little or no access to the art form. This is the goal of the Southern Circuit Tour, certainly, but there's a lot more work to be done if we're going to cross boundaries within each town. The New Orleans Film Society recently raised money to purchase a projector that they can take directly into neighborhoods. If the audiences won't come to us, we should go to them. Unconventional, forward-thinking models. An aspiration. A possibility.

SAHKANAGA - Day 5

Well, Delta may not give you a private jet, but I basically received the following email from them today:

John, I just need to talk to you. I know I was a hot mess last Friday. Sometimes, I don't know, sometimes I just get a little crazy, and I'm sorry you had to take it. ALL of it. If I could, I would give you a private jet to make up for the s_ _ _show that went down last Friday, but I can't. I hope you understand. Please accept this gift of 5,000 miles as a meager offering of love, my love for you. Together we can make this work. Please forgive me. And thank you for loving me, even when I'm in krazytown.


I accept your apology, Delta.

Plus, the flights from Savannah to Memphis were smooth as silk and soft like butter.

In Memphis, I met my cousin Kala, who is finishing up her third year at Southern College of Optometry, and she took me to the Bar-B-Q Shop where I got to have barbecue spaghetti for the first time. Barbecue spaghetti is, ya know, spaghetti with chopped pork on top, but the curious part is that the noodles are slicked in a golden brown sauce, some mix of standard barbecue sauce and maple syrup. Like fettuccine alfredo, it's rich and delicious for about three bites, and then you need to make it stop.

Her fellow optometric hopeful, Nathan, joined us for the journey to Tupelo where the film screened at the Link Centre, an old Baptist church that has been converted into an arts & social services complex (a cool and ambitious project). The screening was sparsely populated (we were competing with a dulcimer concert upstairs), but the people who attended were warmly welcoming and excited to be there. The post-screening Q&A was remarkable, evolving from questions about the filmmaking process into a passionate discussion about the relevance of the arts in our respective communities.

Why was the screening poorly attended? Do people really not care about independent film? Is it the over-saturation of entertainment options now that you can stream and download in the comfort of your own home? Why were there not more college students in attendance in the college towns of Charleston and Savannah? Where's the disconnect? How do we reach people?

The Southern Circuit is bringing high-quality independent documentaries and features to a variety of small and mid-sized Southern communities, and it's wildly affordable (screenings range in price from $10 to FREE).

Are we so far down the rabbit hole of celebrity culture that an independent film series doesn't qualify as "newsworthy" to the papers and television stations in each of these communities? Is it that people are scared of the unknown, that an independent film series is unfamiliar and therefore too big a gamble of one's time and money?

I do think we need to be working to cultivate a culture of curiosity. I had never heard of barbecue spaghetti, so naturally that's what I ordered because I have an appetite for new things, the experience of discovery. I didn't love it but it didn't kill me. But when I do prevent myself from trying something new, what am I scared of? Is it possible to shift from an attitude of likes & dislikes, good & bad, right & wrong, to an approach of exploration and acceptance (even if that means you're accepting that you think independent film sucks).

The basic conclusion is that we all have to work a lot harder if we expect the arts to not only exist, but to exist on the forefront of our cultural relevance. Artists can open our hearts and minds, expand our horizons, and profoundly impact the way we experience the world around us. But not if we're participating in a slow and steady erosion of intellectual, political, spiritual, emotional and physical curiosity.

In Tupelo, there was a high school teacher who had told her students about the screening, but they didn't show up, and that breaks my heart. When we screened the film for 200 high schoolers in Woodstock, NY (as part of an outreach initiative at the Woodstock Film Festival) it was one of the greatest screenings we've had. SAHKANAGA is about teenagers (the teenager in all of us), and those kids were more than ready to engage with an independent film, to pick it apart and chew on it. But the only reason they saw the film is because it was a mandatory activity scheduled during school hours.

Some of those kids will go on to seek out independent film, and to think about commercial film in a much more connected way, and that process of personal growth will affect every aspect of their lives.

Anyone can come to the Southern Circuit screenings and go on the same journey.

But how? How do I get you to briefly abandon your routine and enter a dark theater to share this experience with me?

SAHKANAGA - Days 3 & 4

Savannah is an intoxicating town. It's the option for people who can't take the raucous, hallucinatory energy of New Orleans. Every time I visit I feel the tension evaporate, like the live oaks are sucking it out of me in some mystical, photosynthetic exchange. My idea of heaven might be running around Forsyth Park in a never-ending loop, caught in that golden light, a creature with endless stamina, the sun-seekers filling the lawn with their blankets as the oaks twist and canopy around us. And like New Orleans, the people of Savannah are sexy. They just are. It's a totally weird and beautiful phenomenon.

Two amazing things came out of the screening at the historic Lucas Theatre for the Arts.

#1 - I got to spend time with one of my oldest, bestest friends (and one of my greatest teachers), Krista Seckinger. Krista (who is from Rincon, GA, 20 miles from Savannah) volunteered all her time and resources to make SAHKANAGA happen, and for that I will be eternally grateful. Beyond that, she taught me about Southern storytelling by introducing me (when she was my AP English teacher!) to Flannery O'Connor, William Faulkner and Eudora Welty, among others. She opened up the possibility that great art can come from small, Southern towns; that we have a unique culture that should be celebrated and explored rather than apologized for. My early exposure to great Southern literature gave me a sense of pride in my heritage, and it will certainly follow me through everything I do. I love Krista for that.

#2 - This poster, designed by Aubrey Meng Zhu (graduate student at SCAD):

For a class assignment, Meng watched the SAHKANAGA teaser and managed to nail the essence of the film (which is also a testament to our editor's skills since he was able to convey so much of the story and themes in less than two minutes). She's like a mind-reader! It's an indescribable honor when another artist responds to your work in such an intuitive, inspired way.

'Nuff said.

SAHKANAGA - Days 1 & 2

Hey, I'm John Henry Summerour. I'm on the road and in the skies with my feature, SAHKANAGA, on the Southern Circuit Tour. I may be one of the few remaining filmmakers (and human beings?) who don't own a smart phone or digital camera, so I will try to create pictures out of words.

I've been on the festival circuit since April of last year (you can check out the playdates here) and since then the only months where I got to be at home without traveling were June, January and March, so I'm pretty used to packing my bag and heading to the airport at this point. Well, something surprising happened this week. I actually started to get nervous about departing for the Circuit. I had dreams in which I was visiting friends and they kept telling me to sit down but they had no chairs, or the one where Julia Roberts was at a party, dressed as a mime, standing with her nose in the corner as though she had misbehaved. All the dreams were eerie and I kept thinking, "Why am I getting nervous about this trip? I've been all over the world, cool as a cucumber. Why now?"

#1 - This tour represents the completion of an incredible year, traveling to new places and sharing the movie with audiences who have surprised and inspired me. The film will continue to play a few festivals here and there, but once you've been on the road for a year it's time to pass the torch to the new crop of independent filmmakers, and things inevitably slow down. I also realize that the Circuit could be my last opportunity to sit in a room with others who are experiencing the film for the first time, to feel them reacting as the story takes them on a journey. I know many filmmakers hate sitting in the theater as their movie plays, but I think that's crazy. We make movies to share with audiences, right? For me, getting to spend time with each audience is the reward after years of hard work, and it teaches me so much about my own storytelling.

#2 - I will turn 35 on this trip. Birthdays are always a time of reflection on the year I've had as I ponder where I'm going, and the conveyor belt of life chugs along, making me want to live every single moment to the absolute fullest. So, you know, it can be an emotional and slightly edgy time of year.

#3 - Festivals are fun! I get to show up and someone else has booked the theater, sold the tickets, hired a projectionist and worried about the logistics and finances.  Now that I'm reaching the end of my festival year, I still have the goal to self-distribute the film in New York (where I live) and Chattanooga (where I grew up, and shot the film). Fun time is over. I'll spend the next several months trying to execute my plan for self-distribution while negotiating deals to make the film available on Netflix, iTunes, DVD, etc. It's been good for me to learn the business-side of filmmaking, but it ain't no party.

#4 - Now what? More than anything else, I really want to be working on a new film, but I haven't been able to focus my energy on writing new scripts and building the foundation for a new project while trying to bring SAHKANAGA to completion. Someone asked my sister what I was working on next and she said, "John has to ride that SAHKANAGA pony all the way to the stable before he can take out another horse." I do think the stable is in sight, and though the pony is gagging and stumbling, he's definitely going to make it. But once we get to the stable will I have the energy to climb back on a new horse and take off again? Will I remember how to ride a horse? Will the horse get spooked? Will I run out of apples?? And so a new cycle begins... facing the unknown, challenging myself to rise to the occasion, summoning strength and passion from the depths. It's a daunting endeavor, but it's time.

#5 - Sometimes strange dreams and bad feelings come true:
My trip to Charleston was a S_ _ _ SHOW. I'm not gonna lie. The first plane out was delayed, then the entire flight was cancelled due to "Mechanical." (One word, that's all we got.) I spent an hour trying to book another flight to Savannah, Augusta or Greenville so I could drive to Charleston, but everything was sold out due to Easter Weekend traffic. (Never travel on Easter/Passover Weekend, folks, not unless you like to witness cross-generational familial meltdowns in which strollers become weapons.) My rebooking was interrupted by a guy running through the terminal cheering, "We got you another plane to Charleston!" That plane was being flown in from Boston, so they loaded us onto a bus and shuttled us 30 minutes to the Marine Terminal where no one had been given advance notice that a plane was coming in from Boston to pick up a busload of angry passengers. Not a good scene. The computers crashed, printers ran out of ink, paper jammed, no one could get rebooked. I witnessed an old man in a wheelchair screaming, "I WANT A PRIVATE JET!" Time stopped. The Delta representative considered him and said, "Sir, that's not how it works. We are trying to get another plane for all the passengers..." "I WANT A PRIVATE JET I WANT A PRIVATE JET!!!!"

It was nuts, but we finally made it to Washington DC, and then Charleston, where I encountered total gridlock while people on the other side of the highway screamed across to us, "The First Lady is in town! They've shut down the interstate!" (I later found out it wasn't Michelle Obama, but the First Lady of South Carolina who was on a book tour, or something.)

Once I made it to the Halsey Institute, everything mellowed. I was greeted by Lizz who checked me into the beautiful historic housing and recommended a place to grab a sandwich before we did a picture/sound check. The screening went well. I got to meet my editor's best friend from college, my composer's brother, and a woman from back home who has been a Facebook friend for years but we've never met in person. (It's always extra special to have people from Walker County in the audience since they really know the world of the film.) I had a late and delicious dinner at Husk, and the next morning I took off for Savannah where I've finally had a moment to jump off the pony, take Julia Roberts out of the corner, and blog it out.

And so it begins...

(Stay tuned, I'm going to get more coffee.)

Meet John Henry Summerour

Welcome John Henry Summerour to the Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers! John will be touring with his film, Sahkanaga. The first stop is Friday, April 6th at the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art in Charleston, South Carolina. The show starts at 8 pm so don't miss a moment!

Sahkanaga will also show in the following communities:

Cullowhee, NC

Montgomery, AL

Winder, GA

Savannah, GA

Tupelo, MS

Clemson, SC

Alexandria, LA

Thomasville, GA

Johnson City, TN

View the film trailer below: