Director
The Stanley sound is true old-time, mountain style bluegrass music. This film tells Ralph's story through interviews with Ralph, fellow musicians, and those who know Ralph best. Rank Stranger, White Dove, Pretty Polly, Man of Constant Sorrow, and over twenty other songs help tell the story. Ralph performs with Dwight Yoakam, Patty Loveless, Junior Brown, Larry Sparks, George Shuffler, Ricky Skaggs, and members of the Clinch Mountain Boys.
Director
Using funny, often poignant examples, Strangers and Kin shows the development and effect of stereotypes as technological change collides with tradition in the Southern mountains. The film traces the evolution of the “hillbilly” image through Hollywood films, network news and entertainment shows, dramatic renderings of popular literature, and interviews with contemporary Appalachians to demonstrate how stereotypes are created, reinforced, and often used to rationalize exploitation. Strangers and Kin suggests how a people can embrace modernity without becoming “strangers to their kin.”
Director
The Old Regular Baptist Church is one of the oldest denominations in the Appalachian mountains. Its followers cherish its traditional practices and its sense of everlasting values in a changing world. In the Good Old Fashioned Way documents a riverside baptism, foot-washing ceremonies, an Association Meeting, the music of the church, and memorial services held at a family ceremony. Widespread only among mountain people, this religion is uniquely a product of Appalachian culture — and this documentary is a rare look at its practices.
Randy
Appalshop’s first dramatic film, In Ya Blood is the story of a prototypical young man from Appalachia in the summer after his senior year in high school. Randy, the protagonist, must make the difficult decision faced by many Appalachian youth‑‑whether to stay in the mountains or leave in search of a “better life.” The film follows Randy as he struggles with his alternatives of working in the coal mines or going off to college. Shot in black and white by filmmakers the same age as those portrayed in the film, In Ya Blood is highly effective as an insider’s look at the decisions faced by many teenagers as they consider their futures.
