This event begins at 6 PM CT on Nov 21 and will be available in our platform after it streams live until Nov 22.
What drives the Southern story? Hear from Southern born-and-raised filmmakers Raven Jackson (Nettles), Ryan Craver (Truck Slut), Zandashé Brown (Blood Runs Down), and Bo McGuire (Socks on Fire) who have worked to bring stories from their region to the big screen speak to why a southern filmmaking movement is not only possible but important in the current landscape. Moderated by Selena Lauterer of Bitter Southerner.
Selena Lauterer (moderator)
Selena has worked in public media for over 20 years and is the founder and president of Artemis Independent, a media promotions and production company located in Boone, North Carolina. Her public television credits include Co-Producer of the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning PBS series A Chef’s Life, consulting producer for Vivian Howard’s new primetime PBS show, Somewhere South and Executive Producer of A Craftsman’s Legacy. She is Head of Production for The Bitter Southerner and her company manages promotion efforts for over a dozen public television favorites each year, including POV, Roadtrip Nation, Reel South, Pearl Jam 20, Tony Bennett Duets II, and a new series premiering spring 2021, How She Rolls.
Raven Jackson
A native of Tennessee, Raven Jackson is an award-winning filmmaker, poet, and photographer. Her work often explores landscapes of indefinable experiences and emotions, as well as the body’s relationship to nature. A participant of Film at Lincoln Center’s Artist Academy during the 57th New York Film Festival, she is currently in development for her debut narrative feature, all dirt roads taste of salt, which lyrically explores the life of a Black woman in Tennessee and has received support from Cinereach, SFFILM, IFP, Tribeca Film Institute, New Orleans Film Society, Kenneth Rainin Foundation, and Westridge Foundation. The film was also one of five selected for the Ikusmira Berriak Residency in San Sebastián, Spain, and was handpicked by Barry Jenkins for Indie Memphis’ 2019 Black Filmmaker Residency in Screenwriting. Her short films Nettles and A Guide to Breathing Underwater are currently streaming on the Criterion Channel.
Ryan Craver
Ryan Craver is a New York-based filmmaker originally from North Carolina. His work examines queerness's place in the Southern family. Truck Slut, his first short, premiered at the 2018 New Orleans Film Festival and received a special mention for Best Emerging Filmmaker at the Palm Springs International Shortfest. In May, he graduated from Columbia University's film MFA, where his thesis film Sound to Sea received support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the David Ross Fetzer Foundation for Emerging Artists. His feature project Tadpole--a satirical look at queer ecology and teenage hormones--recently received the Tribeca Film Institute's Sloan Filmmaker Fund.
Bo McGuire
Bo McGuire was born the queer son of a Waffle House cook and his third-shift waitress in Hokes Bluff, Alabama. The first movie he truly fell for was the music video for Reba McEntire’s “Fancy.” He was a Ryan Murphy + Half Initiative Mentee and one of Filmmaker Magazine’s 2019 “25 New Faces of Independent Film.” His feature debut, SOCKS ON FIRE, won the jury prize for best documentary feature at the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival; the film was supported by Cinereach, Field of Vision, Doc Society, Hot Docs Pitch Forum, Southern Documentary Fund, IFP, and Film Independent. His original television pilot, SHITBIRD, was selected by Spike Lee to receive the Sandra Ifraimova Award and his feature script, ALABAMA SNIPE FIGHT, appeared on NYU’s Purple List. He belongs to the First Church of Dolly Parton.
Zandashé Brown
Happily based in New Orleans, Zandashé Brown is a writer/director born-and-bred in and inspired by southern Louisiana. Her work raises a Black femme lens to the tradition of southern gothic horror. Brown’s directorial debut, BLOOD RUNS DOWN, was one of five projects selected for the New Orleans Tricentennial Incubator Grant in 2018 and has gone on to screen at dozens of festivals in the US and abroad. Her short film in development, BENEDICTION, was one of five projects selected for the 2020 Through Her Lens: Tribeca Chanel Women's Filmmaker Program. Brown's past narrative and documentary work has been supported by Kickstarter, Create Louisiana, the New Orleans Video Access Center, and the New Orleans Film Society where she now serves as Artist Development Coordinator and Programming Manager.
This event begins at 6 PM CT on Nov 21 and will be available in our platform after it streams live until Nov 22.
What drives the Southern story? Hear from Southern born-and-raised filmmakers Raven Jackson (Nettles), Ryan Craver (Truck Slut), Zandashé Brown (Blood Runs Down), and Bo McGuire (Socks on Fire) who have worked to bring stories from their region to the big screen speak to why a southern filmmaking movement is not only possible but important in the current landscape. Moderated by Selena Lauterer of Bitter Southerner.
Selena Lauterer (moderator)
Selena has worked in public media for over 20 years and is the founder and president of Artemis Independent, a media promotions and production company located in Boone, North Carolina. Her public television credits include Co-Producer of the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning PBS series A Chef’s Life, consulting producer for Vivian Howard’s new primetime PBS show, Somewhere South and Executive Producer of A Craftsman’s Legacy. She is Head of Production for The Bitter Southerner and her company manages promotion efforts for over a dozen public television favorites each year, including POV, Roadtrip Nation, Reel South, Pearl Jam 20, Tony Bennett Duets II, and a new series premiering spring 2021, How She Rolls.
Raven Jackson
A native of Tennessee, Raven Jackson is an award-winning filmmaker, poet, and photographer. Her work often explores landscapes of indefinable experiences and emotions, as well as the body’s relationship to nature. A participant of Film at Lincoln Center’s Artist Academy during the 57th New York Film Festival, she is currently in development for her debut narrative feature, all dirt roads taste of salt, which lyrically explores the life of a Black woman in Tennessee and has received support from Cinereach, SFFILM, IFP, Tribeca Film Institute, New Orleans Film Society, Kenneth Rainin Foundation, and Westridge Foundation. The film was also one of five selected for the Ikusmira Berriak Residency in San Sebastián, Spain, and was handpicked by Barry Jenkins for Indie Memphis’ 2019 Black Filmmaker Residency in Screenwriting. Her short films Nettles and A Guide to Breathing Underwater are currently streaming on the Criterion Channel.
Ryan Craver
Ryan Craver is a New York-based filmmaker originally from North Carolina. His work examines queerness's place in the Southern family. Truck Slut, his first short, premiered at the 2018 New Orleans Film Festival and received a special mention for Best Emerging Filmmaker at the Palm Springs International Shortfest. In May, he graduated from Columbia University's film MFA, where his thesis film Sound to Sea received support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the David Ross Fetzer Foundation for Emerging Artists. His feature project Tadpole--a satirical look at queer ecology and teenage hormones--recently received the Tribeca Film Institute's Sloan Filmmaker Fund.
Bo McGuire
Bo McGuire was born the queer son of a Waffle House cook and his third-shift waitress in Hokes Bluff, Alabama. The first movie he truly fell for was the music video for Reba McEntire’s “Fancy.” He was a Ryan Murphy + Half Initiative Mentee and one of Filmmaker Magazine’s 2019 “25 New Faces of Independent Film.” His feature debut, SOCKS ON FIRE, won the jury prize for best documentary feature at the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival; the film was supported by Cinereach, Field of Vision, Doc Society, Hot Docs Pitch Forum, Southern Documentary Fund, IFP, and Film Independent. His original television pilot, SHITBIRD, was selected by Spike Lee to receive the Sandra Ifraimova Award and his feature script, ALABAMA SNIPE FIGHT, appeared on NYU’s Purple List. He belongs to the First Church of Dolly Parton.
Zandashé Brown
Happily based in New Orleans, Zandashé Brown is a writer/director born-and-bred in and inspired by southern Louisiana. Her work raises a Black femme lens to the tradition of southern gothic horror. Brown’s directorial debut, BLOOD RUNS DOWN, was one of five projects selected for the New Orleans Tricentennial Incubator Grant in 2018 and has gone on to screen at dozens of festivals in the US and abroad. Her short film in development, BENEDICTION, was one of five projects selected for the 2020 Through Her Lens: Tribeca Chanel Women's Filmmaker Program. Brown's past narrative and documentary work has been supported by Kickstarter, Create Louisiana, the New Orleans Video Access Center, and the New Orleans Film Society where she now serves as Artist Development Coordinator and Programming Manager.