Students in Dr. Andy Harper’s Southern Studies 537: Documenting the South in Film completed short films as a final project for the class in the Fall of 2016. Watch excerpts from each film below.
You can now watch the SouthDocs film Shake ‘Em on Down by Joe York and Scott Barretta online through the Reel South initiative. Reel South is the result of a partnership between UNC-TV and SCETV and the Southern Documentary Fund, and highlights the documentaries from around the region, making them available through public broadcasting stations.
A new Master of Fine Arts degree in Documentary Expression begins this fall, and prospective students are encouraged to apply before the April 13 deadline. The new MFA, housed at the University of Mississippi’s Center for the Study of Southern Culture, will be a two-year (30-hour) graduate program that combines three forms of training.
Shake ‘Em on Down: The Blues According to Fred McDowell, a SouthDocs film by Joe York and Scott Barretta, was selected to be part of the South Arts Southern Circuit, which screens films across the region. The circuit just kicked off, and Joe will be attending many of the screenings.
We’ve just published a new MISSISSIPPI STORY on our documentary media website, mississippistories.org. In 2015, Southern Studies graduate student Mary Blessey taught a digital photography class to children ages 9-12 enrolled in the summer program at Tutwiler Community Education Center in Tutwiler, Mississippi.
The Center’s David Wharton has a new book out called The Power of Belief: Spiritual Landscapes from the Rural South, with an introduction by Charles Reagan Wilson.
Dr. Wharton will sign his book on Thursday, December 8 at 5pm at Off Square Books on the Oxford Courthouse Square.
We’ve just published a new story as part of the Center’s documentary website Mississippi Stories. In this short film, Rex Jones of the Southern Documentary Project visits barbershops in Greenwood and Greenville to profile a new public health program in Mississippi.
Check out a slideshow of highlights from the SFA’s oral history programming so far in 2016, shown recently at the Fall Symposium. Led by Oral Historian Sara Wood, the SFA tells the stories of the farmers, fisherman, cooks, and entrepreneurs who feed the South, opening discussions of history and identity, and engaging with race, class, gender, and sexuality.
On Thursday, October 14 at 12:15pm in Barnard Observatory, SST alum and former SFA Oral Historian Amy C. Evans will discuss her work as a teaching artist with Literacy through Photography, a nonprofit that places artists in classrooms around the Houston Independent School District. Her work is currently on display in the Center’s Gammill Gallery, which is open to the public Monday – Friday, 9am to 5pm.
Rex Jones of the Southern Documentary Project documented the 1,010 mile 2014 trek of Mark Hainds along the U.S. – Mexico border, from El Paso to Boca Chica beach on the Gulf of Mexico. You can read an interview with Hainds here. Hainds and Jones encountered border-crossers, drug smugglers, cowboys, the Border Patrol, and a range of opinions on immigration and law enforcement.