Film from Appalshop: Documentary Film-Makers in the Appalachians

Abstract

I don't put in or take out, comments Walter Winebarger, a fifth-generation owner of a waterpowered gristmill near Boone, North Carolina, about the pure quality of his flour. He and his mill are the subject of Waterground, a 16-minute color documentary (1977). It was produced by local Appalachian film-makers attached to a non-profit folk arts cooperative, operating in the coal mining area of eastern Kentucky, which calls itself Appalshop. In many ways Winebarger's remark is an apt summary of the simplicity and integrity of the 30 documentaries that have been made by this group of self-taught Appalachian film-makers: they don't put in nothin' fancy in terms of technique and they take nothin' out from their documents of Appalachian history, culture, and contemporary social issues. Started in 1969 as a project under the joint aid of the Office of Economic Opportunity and the American Film Institute to train minorities (hillbillies!) for film and television careers, Appalshop has expanded to become an umbrella for a variety of interests including Roadside Theater, a record division (June Appal Recordings), a quarterly review of mountain area literature and art (Mountain Review), and a still-photography workshop. While OEO and AFI funding ceased in 1971, the cooperative has continued to function, with about 50 per cent of its income earned by film distribution, record and magazine sales, and theater perfori ' i or take out, comi a er, a fifth-generation owner mances; the remainder has come from private donations and grants from the National Endowments for the Humanities and the Arts.