Exploring Arts in the Community Celebrating FestivALL Charleston
Movies & Music
Arts on Film
Inspired Folk: Outsider Artists of West Virginia
This interactive DVD examines the lifelong work of ten exceptional West Virginia artists -- their motivations, inspirations, obsessions and their world view -- artists whose work is so unique that it makes us question all the ways we define art. To find answers, the film takes the viewer deep into the artists' creative spaces and their minds.
Music of Heaven: Old-Time Music from Coal River Country
Junior visits with other traditional musicians in the area, describes old-time methods of making moonshine and leads us through some of his own trials and tribulations as he battles personal demons.
The Queen Family: Appalachian Tradition and Back Porch Music
The mountains of Appalachia are home to a folk music tradition that traces its roots to England, Scotland, and Ireland. Picking up the African banjo and other influences in its evolution, this tradition gave rise to gospel, bluegrass and country music. The Queen family of western North Carolina have come to represent Southern Appalachian heritage and a way of life that's passing, but not yet gone.
Signs, Cures and Witchery: German Appalachian Folklore
Provides a fascinating glimpse of some little-known Appalachian beliefs and practices among descendants of early German pioneers
The True Meaning of Pictures
Shelby Lee Adams has been photographing the eastern Kentucky Appalachian mountain people for thirty years and explores the stereotypical controversy of these people in this documentary.
Dancing Outlaw
A picturesque portrait of the nearly extinct mountain culture of Boone County, West Virginia, focusing on the unique character of Jesco White: mountain dancer, petty criminal, Elvis Presley aficionado. A controversial cult classic.
Poetry Live(s)
Poetry Live(s) introduces us to the lively diversity of practicing poets --- young, old, men, women, novices and veterans, black and white.
Chihuly In The Hotshop
If you've ever had a piece of colorful glass catch your eye, you must check out the work of Dale Chihuly, who makes amazing glass installations in unexpected places. This is just one of the DVDs about Chihuly in the collection.
Crossings: Bridge Building in West Virginia
Explore the history of bridges in West Virginia from early pioneer construction to Congressional movements for bridge inspections.
The Cats Of Mirikitani
Take a step outside of Appalachia with this intimate exploration of the lingering wounds of war and the healing power of community and art. Eighty-year-old Jimmy Mirikitani survived the trauma of WWII internment camps, Hiroshima, and homelessness by creating art. But when 9/11 threatens his life on the New York City streets and a local filmmaker brings him to her home, the two embark on a journey to confront Jimmy's painful past.
Follow the River
Mary Ingles is a Virginia homesteader whose family is suddenly attacked and captured by a Shawnee war party. Mary escapes and, with another captive woman, embarks on a harrowing journey through the Virginia wilderness toward freedom and home. Based on the novel by WV's own James Alexander Thom.
Matewan
A labor leader seeking to organize the workers of a company town sets off a powderkeg of racial hostility, corruption and betrayal in this tale of the bitter clash between unionist miners and the tyrannical coal company owners in West Virginia in the 1920's.
How Art Made The World
This art history goes way back - all the way to the first big artistic discoveries on the walls of caves. Learn how early artwork has cascaded down the centuries to define the look of the present day, from the global trend for unrealistic depictions of the human body; the secret powers of the feature film; how politicians manage to manipulate people so easily; visions of the afterlife; and why we use imagery at all.
