Movies

The Mountain Minor

Winner of 11 Independent Film Awards including 4 Best Feature Film and 2 Best of Festival Awards

THE MOUNTAIN MINOR is now streaming on Amazon Prime in the US and UK; and Vimeo On Demand world wide!

Click here for the ELECTRONIC PRESS KIT for The Mountain Minor. In the 1920s-1950s, millions of Appalachians left their homes in the mountains and migrated to urban Midwestern centers of IN, IL, MI, and OH. The Mountain Minor is the story of life-worn Charlie Abner, a generation later, as he struggles with leaving his present life and family in Cincinnati, Ohio to return to the Kentucky Mountain home and musical heritage that once defined him. The story is partially told in flashbacks to depression era Eastern Kentucky, when Charlie’s parents, Oza and Vestal Abner, face the difficult decision to leave the way of life they know and move to Ohio for employment and better opportunities. This film is unique in that all of its principal actors are traditional musicians—such as Smithsonian Folkways artist Elizabeth LaPrelle, and acclaimed banjoist and fiddler Dan Gellert— performing all of the music in the film.

SOUNDTRACK RELEASE: The Mountain Minor Motion Picture Soundtrack includes 39 tracks of complete songs and snippets of background music much of which was recorded “live” during filming. The album is available on most digital platforms and on CD.

The CD includes a beautiful insert booklet containing essays by: Dale Farmer, writer-producer of The Mountain Minor; Gerry Milnes, Retired Folk Art Coordinator, Augusta Heritage Center of Davis & Elkins College; Gloria Goodwin Raheja, Professor of Anthropology, University of Minnesota and Trevor McKenzie, Musician and Archivist, Appalachian State University. We are grateful to the skillful professional musicians that lent their talent to us. Many thanks to recordist Jerry Sebastian, who so skillfully captured the music on set, and album producers Scott Young and Keyth Neso, who worked their magic with remixing and mastering.

Order dvd or soundtrack

Currently in the works

Oza Mae

PRE-PRODUCTION: A short film set in a nursing home depicts a dying matriarch and the family that loves her. Based on real events, this film will touch the heart of anyone with an elderly parent or has lived through the experience of losing a loved one.

Girls Can't Fiddle

PRE-PRODUCTION: A feature length set in rural Appalachia during the 1930s. Girls Can't Fiddle is a narrative sorty of hope over despair for Laurie Williams and her unlikely best friend, Hany Perkins. These two young women will not be satisfied with their lot in life and both pay a high price to rise above their oppressive circumstances. Girls Can't Fiddle is the story of two strong women that will promote understanding and healing in racially charged times.

Farmer's Market to Table

Television Series Concept: A food series intending to highlight the stories behind the vendors at your local farmer's market. Each show would include our chef meeting a vendor at a local farmer's market;, visiting their farm to learn their story and see their production process; then conclude with a chef prepared meal using groceries found at the market. We hope this series will spotlight the hard work and care of America's farmers, educate consumers on the importance of supporting local farm markets, and show a healthy meal prep using local goods.

The Great Musical Migration

Television Series Concept: This interview-style docuseries intends to capture and preserve the musical roots of the Midwest Urban Appalachian community. Music has always been an important part of life that reflects the culture and history of its people. It is important to expand upon the history of the Appalachian Migration to the Midwest during the Great Depression era by capturing the histories, stories, and melodies of the music that people brought with them. Many of the original settlers are gone now and we are beginning to lose the generations that still have personal memories of their migrant ancestors. It is important document this aspect of the migration legacy of traditional, bluegrass, and old-time music as told by those musicians still closest to its origins.