Danielle Beverly from Old South visits East Tennessee State University

From Filmmaker Danielle Beverly of Old South: 

East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, TN was the 4th stop for Old South on the #SouthernCircuit. I was greeted by the nicest Budget car rental agent ever and mountains in the distance. I made my way to the posh Carnegie Hotel conveniently located right across the street from the campus.

My screening was not until the next evening, which gave time to have a great dinner. I chose Café Lola where server Jamie could not have been more lovely. Southern hospitality, stories about family, and what’s important in life, were shared. He greeted all guests with the same warmth. The food was super delicious.

The next day I was able to do two class visits where I found out that ETSU has a bluegrass studies program! I spoke to a large writing class, and also watched student work, providing one on one feedback. Engaging with students is one of the best things about the #SouthernCircuit.

ETSU went all out for the screening. They created amazing giveaways – packets of seeds to promote “Plant Seeds of Understanding”. Also “Hope”, “Kindness” and “Friendship”. I grabbed a few to give to Karen, the gardener in “Old South,” and my mom, who I would be seeing at The Atlanta Film Festival screening later that week.

A special shout out to the Mary B. Martin School of the Arts faculty here, who all worked to promote the event, and make it incredibly well attended.

A highly diverse audience came and dialogued – community elders, students, fraternity members, faculty, and a variety of people and organizations from the town including Umoja. As often happens, two different people teared up as they shared with me their impressions one on one, in the reception afterwards. Old South opens up memories for audience members, and an eagerness to take steps forward.

  

One great moment was when a terrific young man from Sigma Ep came forward to ask about the film, and what he and his fraternity could do to engage in significant community service in the off campus neighborhood where they live. I encouraged him to talk with the community, ask their needs, and truly listen. I look forward to what emerges.

Yvonne Welbon of The New Black - East Tennessee State University, Indie Memphis, and Auburn University

From producer Yvonne Welbon of The New Black:

Working with a small team I oversee The New Black’s Empowering Equality outreach and engagement campaign focused primarily on LGBT, faith and African-American communities. In collaboration with our partner organizations (e.g., Human Rights Campaign, ACLU, Gay-Straight Alliance Network), our national campaign launched in 2013 with a number of initiatives and piloted a series of activities geared toward fostering dialogue, bridge-building and inspiring action. We have focused on three key areas as part of an overarching public education effort. They included 1) Faithbased Initiatives; 2) Institutional and Organizational Development; and 3) Grassroots Organizing encompassing political and legislative advocacy and increasing media visibility. The goals of Southern Circuit Tour align with many of our goals, including our strong desire to reach our goals with communities in the South.

East Tennessee State University 

The first stop on my tour was the Mary B. Martin School of the Arts at East Tennessee State University (ETSU). With The New Black Empowering Equality campaign, our goal is to support the development of diversity and inclusion practices within colleges, universities, corporations, and nonprofit organizations committed to developing and sustaining diverse, inclusive environments.

Working with the fabulous ETSU team that included Associate Dean Anita DeAngelis, Assistant Director Heidi Ehle and RTVF Director Shara Lange I experienced a full day of activities that included a classroom visit, small group critiques, a faculty/staff dinner, the screening of the film and a reception. The team at ETSU garnered quite a bit of press for the event. The film screening was written about in East Tennessean, A! Magazine, The Kingsport Times-News, and Johnson
City Press.

Yvonne Welbon presenting a case study of The New Black to Professor Tammy Hayes RTVF Writing Class. 

Professor Tammy Hayes RTVF Writing Class

Professor Shara Lange arranged a small group critique session with students

Post screening Q & A

The Reception

Indie Memphis

The New Black screened at Malco Studio on the Square in Memphis. The screening attracted a crowd that included members of OutLaw 901, the #1 LGBT Guide to Memphis TN. Members from Cathedral of Praise Church of Memphis decided to bring their Wednesday night Bible Study to the screening. Overall the audience mix helped to create an amazing post screening discussion moderated by Whitney, the Founder of OutLaw 901.

New Black Producer, Yvonne Welbon with members of Cathedral of Praise Church of Memphis

Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art, Auburn University 

My last stop on the Southern Circuit Tour was the beautiful Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art at Auburn University. The screening was open to the public and included students and community members. The audience Q& A focused on topics that ranged from Alabama’s stance on Marriage Equality to the many issues addressed in the film. One young woman in the audience said that the film allowed her to think deeply about the issues in the film and had moved her to shift her position to one that was more open to acceptance. The Q& A moved from the theater to the atrium where we

enjoyed live jazz , good food and great conversation.

Producer, Yvonne Welbon; Museum Curator of Education, Scott Bishop; Audience members Kirk Swiss and Virginia E. O'Leary, Ph.D.; Professor Emerita, Auburn University

Jeremy Seifert - ETSU

An update from Jeremy Siefert, currently touring his film GMO OMG:

I drove up to Johnson City, TN, with my son, Finn, for the screening at ETSU last night. We chatted the whole way up about our favorite kinds of trees (Coastal Redwood, Sequoia, ancient oaks, and sugar maple) and also about various wild mushrooms, mostly the ones that can kill you. The leaves have mostly fallen in the mountains that border North Carolina and Tennessee, making it easy to spot all the evergreens that dot the ridges.

The screening at the Mary B. Martin School of the Arts on campus was fantastic! There were well over two hundred people from all over the community in attendance, and Earth Fare provided an amazing spread of appetizers afterward. Finn participated in the end of the Q&A, answering a few questions about what we grew in our garden last year. He also sold GMO OMG t-shirts after the screening and chatted with people for over an hour....he's learning all about life on the road! On the way back home at 11PM, he said he was so exhausted from talking to everyone, "I mean, I talked to like a thousand people and for like 30 minutes each!"

A big THANK YOU to Anita DeAngelis and her team for making it an event to remember.

Jeremy

gmofilm.com

Rob Kuhns and the undead at ETSU

October 21, 2013 - Mary B. Martin School of the Arts, East Tennessee State University

From Rob Kuhns:

Anita DeAngelis, Director of the Mary B. Martin School of the Arts, greeted me at the hotel and she and her husband Steve Jackson, graciously took me to dinner before the screening, which was a delight - Steve’s a very funny man. Another friend of theirs, Mike DePollo is a zombie fanatic (and Boy Scout executive!), and excited to watch Birth of the Living Dead.

There was a great showing of about 85 people at the auditorium. The audience was very engaged and laughed in all the right places – a very happy sound. I was sorry that Esther, who worked so hard to help create this film with me, wasn’t there.

There were a lot of questions about Romero – what else has he done and what is he doing now? I was happy to talk about my other favorite Romero films – especially Dawn of the Dead, Martin, and Knightriders – and gratified that Birth seemed to get some people to want to seek out his other works. Romero is indeed working on another film and will probably keep at it until he himself is among the undead (and maybe even then). I think it’s very inspiring that he keeps finding new ways to build on the mythology he started and make it relevant to each and every moment of history he’s in. 

Probably the most surprising question of the whole tour came that night – If I could direct any comic book as a movie, what would it be and who would star in it? My answer was The Sandman by Neil Gaiman, starring Benedict Cumberbatch. It’s certainly fun to fantasize about such things.

Rob, Anita DeAngelis, Heidi Erhle & Lise Cutshaw

Anita and her staff, including Heidi Erhle (Assistant Director) and Lise Cutshaw (Marketing Director) did a wonderful job organizing the event and set up snacks in the lobby so that we could all mingle comfortably after the Q&A. I got to chat with some serious horror fans, who were excited to have a documentary made about their favorite genre. There was a lot of talk about The Conjuring, which scared the living crap out of me. A high school student and her mother asked my advice about how best to pursue the craft of filmmaking. I told her to try and find people her age who share her passion to collaborate and learn with and that it’s simply important to keep making films. I always stress to film students that it’s important to follow projects through from beginning to the end, even if your films aren’t shaping up to be exactly as you envisioned them. That way you learn the most from each film. She also asked me about editing software – I recommend Avid, which students can get “Academic” versions of very reasonably.

Thanks very much, Anita, Heidi, Lise and all of your volunteers, for putting together such a great event!