Kristy Andersen at Gainesville State College

As I head up Hwy 985 North from Atlanta in bumper to bumper traffic, I have no mental image of Gainesville, nor Gainesville State College where my film "Zora Neale Hurston: Jump at the Sun" will be screening. Although the city is very close to Lake Sidney Lanier, a lake that could easily house the entire city of Atlanta, its boundaries are not the water but rather the highways and newly blacktopped roads that have created the suburb of Oakwood. The college looks like others that have answered the call of commuter students, and the Continuing Ed building is a new one. The Arts Council, Inc. has sponsored me and they are the sort of entity that The Southern Circuit was made for. Gladys Wyant, the Ex. Dir, has heavily promoted the event and the Council relishes the opportunity to have the film and a filmmaker in their little community. There is a videotaped sit-down interview following the screening with Professor Jeff Marker, an opportunity for their Communications Department to create programming, with students operating cameras, under the caring guidance of another Prof. Dave Smith. Loved it! Now, on to Indianola to the BB King Museum. Goodbye, Georgia.

Kristy Andersen at Madison-Morgan Cultural Center

I'm so happy to be in Madison, Georgia, a city fully in bloom. Dogwoods, azaleas, camellias, tulip trees. What's not to like about this? Do the people of Madison have any idea how beautiful their city is, as they drive casually through their hood? The trees are trumped by the homes, some selling for millions of dollars, before the crash, still beyond my reach now. Had Scarlett and Rhett had great-grandchildren, they'd now be ensconced in one of these antebellum homes in Madison, Georgia.


The Madison-Morgan Cultural Center is a gem of a building, built in 1893 as a school. It sits back from the road, a sculpture garden gracing the lawn. My screening is in the old auditorium, a theatre in the round with wood walls and floors, old padded theatre chairs. The Sister's - a group of black women who live in Madison - are there in full. A book group has told its members to attend. And there are many locals. They all know each other and the reception is lively.


I always listen to hear whether the audience laughs at the places in the film where I want them to laugh. This Southern group laughs alot - they like to enjoy themselves. And here in Madison they are particularly fond of one line in the film: "Langston Hughes said he'd rather be a lamppost in Harlem than the Mayor of a town in Georgia".


Today, if Langston were alive he might change his mind. I can see him sitting on one of those antebellum porches in a rocker. And I can imagine Zora zipping through town in her red convertible. She would have felt right at home with her Sister's in Madison, Georgia, attending the screening, looking fine.

Kristy Andersen at Carson-Newman College in Jefferson City

This small college in Jefferson City is surprisingly ranked one of the best Liberal Arts Colleges by US News & World Reports - surprising only because the college, with its quaint campus and brick buildings, is in a town that barely boasts a hotel. Its big city neighbor is Knoxville, less than an hour from woodsy Jefferson City (unless you mistakenly misread Johnson City as Jefferson and head 50 miles out of town before realizing your error - doh!). My host, Mark Borchert, has turned the Henderson Humanities theatre on the campus into a film screening room with an audio system that surpassed many where I've screened in newer more modern venues. They just don't make buildings like they used to. In fact, the screening was flawless. The students ranged from Communications to Theatre to English majors, the faculty reflected the same, and it appeared there were some civilians in the audience. I had a feeling that this was new information to these students, that they had not pondered the Harlem Renaissance to any degree. But I'm sure Dr. Bethany White will make sure that what they learned about Zora Neale Hurston stays with them.

Meet Kristy Andersen

Welcome Kristy Andersen to the Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers! Her first screening is Monday, March 14, 2011, at Carson-Newman College in Jefferson City, Tennessee. The film starts at 7:30 p.m., so don’t forget your popcorn!

Kristy Andersen has worked in the broadcast television industry since 1975. In 1989, her interest in Hurston was galvanized and started her on an 18-year journey. At the time, many of Zora Neale Hurston's works were out of print. Through collective efforts with the Library of Congress, she uncovered a cache of 45 minutes of Hurston's film footage. Through research at the Smithsonian Institution, Andersen brought to light field materials titled, Folktales from the Gulf States, the basis for Hurston's book Mules and Men. These materials later became the first major new book by Hurston, entitled Every Tongue Got to Confess, in more than 40 years.