painting: David "Blue" Lamm

Coalfields 16mm, 39 minutes (1984)

West Virginia industrial landscapes are collaged in abstract mattes that transform the photographed scenes into a kinetic field of shapes and spaces inlaying social, sexual, personal and political content. Woven into the film's fabric is the story of Fred Carter, a retired coal miner and black lung activist who was framed by the Federal Government in order to undercut the black lung movement and to stop his bid for president of the United Mine Workers Association. His story is told through fragments of documentary interviews and through Kimiko Hahn's poem which forms a counter-theme in the film. The film has an original sound composition by Earl Howard.   

Tracy's Family Folk Festival 16mm, 10 minutes (1983)

This is an impression of the 1982 folk festival at the Tracy and Eloise Schwarz farm in Central Pennsylvania. The festival, dedicated to the legendary Elizabeth Cotton, includes Bluegrass, Old Timey, Cajun, Country, and Gospel music. In contrast to the casual atmosphere of the festival, the film is an elaborately collaged image with shapes derived from traditional Pennsylvania Dutch designs. While sometimes the music seems to animate the image, at others the image itself becomes a kind of visual music eliciting ephemeral sensuousness. The film is a unique meeting of the folk tradition and the avant garde, implying a fundamental connection between the two.

Chuck's Will's Widow 16mm, silent, 13 minutes (1982)

"This eulogy is shot in the mountain woods where my mother's remains and those of my father and his father are scattered. Jagged shapes swarm the surface acting variously as frames, veils, and fragments of recognizable photographic scenes. Formally complex, the film's emotional qualities emerge in unexpected and subtle ways bringing to the surface themes of mourning, loss and tradition."     -BB