STRANGER WITH A CAMERA
A film by Elizabeth Barret
Thursday Mar 24 2011 at 7pm

Seven Sisters Cinema kicks off their second season of documentary films with a visit by award winning filmmaker Elizabeth Barret and a screening of her 2000 documentary film, “Stranger With a Camera.” This film was the winner of the San Francisco International Film Festival Silver Spire award, and a nominee for a grand jury prize at the Sundance film festival, where it debuted. The film investigates the murder of filmmaker Hugh O’Connor in Letcher County, Kentucky.

Stranger With A Camera screens on Thursday, March 24th at 7 PM at White Horse Black Mountain. Tickets are only 5.00 (3.00 for students)

Set in th rugged backcountry of Appalachia, the film deals with the question of the role of documentary filmmakers and the cultural and community boundaries and barriers which filmmakers encounter.

The 2000 documentary film by director Elizabeth Barret investigatesg the circumstances surrounding the 1967 death of Hugh O'Connor. Barret, who was born and raised in the region, explores questions concerning public image and the individual's lack of power to define oneself within the American media landscape. By contrasting multiple perspectives from locals and O'Connor's film crew, Barret weaves a tale of a complexly motivated crime with an insightful exploration of how the media affects the communities it chronicles.


In 1967 Canadian filmmaker Hugh O'Connor visited the mountains of Central Appalachia to document poverty. A local landlord, Hobart Ison, who resented the presence of filmmakers on his property, shot and killed O'Connor, in part because of his anger over the media images of Appalachia that had become icons in the nation's War on Poverty.

Filmmaker Elizabeth Barret uses O'Connor's death as a lens to explore the complex relationship between those who make films to promote social change and the people whose lives are represented in such media productions. Through first-person accounts of the killing and the perspective of three decades of reflection, “Stranger with a Camera” leads viewers on a quest for understanding - a quest that ultimately leads Barret to examine her own role as both a maker of media and a member of the Appalachian community she portrays. Barret will be at the screening to talk and answer questions.

Seven Sisters Cinema  is a monthly documentary film series at White Horse Black Mountain, the popular new music venue in the town of the same name. Shown on a giant screen with full sound, the series  features films about the Appalachian experience and/or by Appalachian filmmakers. Serpent Child Ensemble is a local non-profit arts organization that produced the highly popular “way Back When” play series at the Black Mountain Center for the Arts. They are currently creating their own documentary about the Beacon Blanket Mill in Swannanoa and the community that grew up around it.

Mountain Talk was created by the North Carolina Language and Life Project under the auspices of the North Carolina State University Humanities Extension Department in Raleigh. Neal Hutcheson directed and produced the hour-long film and it was released with a companion CD titled An Unclouded Day: Stories and Songs of the Southern Appalachian Mountains.

For more information contact Seven Sisters Cinema at 686-3922 or the White Horse Black Mountain at 669-0816