A film by Neal Hutcheson
Thursday April 21st 2011 at 7pm
SEVEN SISTERS CINEMA HOSTS EMMY AWARD WINNING FILMMAKER AND HIS NEW DOCUMENTARY
Seven Sisters Cinema continues to bring groundbreaking and important regional filmmakers to the area with a preview screening of “Atlantic,” and a discussion by the filmmaker, Neil Hutcheson. Hutcheson, best known for his Emmy Award winning documentary about local cult hero, Popcorn Sutton, turns to the coastal regions of North Carolina in his newest film.
Seven Sisters Cinema, a division of Serpent Child Ensemble, will present a preview screening of the work in progress on Thursday, April 21st at 7 PM at White Horse Black Mountain. Their mission is to bring documentary films of regional interest and their filmmakers to local audiences. Hutcheson hopes to get audience feedback during the discussion following the screening.
Along the jagged coastline of North Carolina's Core Sound lies a string of small fishing villages, collectively known as “Down East.” Most families here can trace their ancestry to the earliest European land claims in the area, and for many generations have worked the adjacent waters in boats built by hand from indigenous trees. Characterized by a rugged independence forged in isolation, locals continue to eke a living from the water, braving the unpredictable weather, the treacherous character of the waterways, the seasonal variability in fish stock, and an ever-declining market for their catch.
Now the Core-Sounders suddenly find themselves at the center of a massive land grab by developers. Overcoming their own stubborn independence, historic rivalries between their communities, and a wariness of government intervention, the residents have organized to resist unwelcome development and to petition their county and state leaders for assistance. A portrait of a community in crisis and the inner workings of local government, raising difficult questions about the handling of special cultural and ecological areas in the United States.
“I first visited the Core Sound fishing communities to do a light documentary on regional dialect,” says Hutcheson, whose work has earned him the 2011 Brown Hudson Award from the North Carolina Folklore Society. “What I found there was a frontier culture in the marshes, going back three hundred years, now fighting for its existence against rampant development and a rising tide of free market forces.”
A short preview trailer from the film Atlantic can be seen on YouTube.
On May 19th, Seven Sisters will host “An Evening With Rod Murphy,” with the Asheville filmmaker showing excerpts from several of his movies. “Being the Diablo,” is the story of local legend, Mickey Mahaffey and his trip to Mexico’s desolate Copper Canyon. “Rank Stranger,” covers the long running Thursday night music jam at the home of Neila Hyatt in West Asheville. “Greater Southbridge,” Murphy’s first film, is about some of the strange and colorful street people of South Boston. Murphy’s most recent work, with local film star Andie McDowell, focuses on Asheville’s own “Miss Gay Latina” beauty pageant for transgender women.
Seven Sisters Cinema is a monthly documentary film series at
For more information contact Seven Sisters Cinema at 686-3922
