Carolina Collaborations' mission is to bring area colleges' and universities' programs in acting, filmmaking, sound, lighting, entertainment technology, and affiliated studies together to offer educational opportunities to students and community members in the creation of media that celebrates the history, culture, and folklore of North Carolina.

Popskull & High Art, wins Sandcastle Award for Music Score at Moondance International Film Festival in Boulder, CO, September 2009. The Sandcastle award is presented to winning male and female writing, filmmaking or composing teams where both men and women or a man and woman work as a team on the project. The songwriting and music producing talents of Emily D. Edwards and Max Drake impressed the judges. The music couldn't have been created without the extraordinary talents of the musicians, Max Drake, Matt Hill, Chuck Cotton, FJ Ventre, Theresa Drake, Juan Fernandez, and Scott Manring. All are terrific artists and deserve this award.

Our latest feature, Bone Creek is a winner at the Boomtown Film Festival in Beaumont, Texas May 16, 2009 and has gotten some notice at the M.A.L.I. Womens Film and Music Festival in Austin, TX at the end of May, 2009.

Bone Creek, has won the "Award of Excellence" for 2009 by the Broadcast Educators Association (BEA) which held it's national conference in conjunction with the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) conference in Las Vegas, NV. in April, 2009. We understand Bone Creek was up against many, many entries in the competition. To keep any undue influence out of the competition, films submitted had to be stripped of all credits, so the judges would have no idea of the creators.

Popskull & High Art, the terrific CD that contains music that was used in "Bone Creek" continues to get airplay in Europe, Canada and the U.S. Distributed on our new Creative Roots record label and published by our Gate City Publishing company (BMI) you can pick up a copy at our Products page, or click on the CD title link to go to CD Baby to pick up a copy!

Producers Max Drake and Emily Edwards bring together the talents of leading Piedmont, North Carolina blues musicians to lead you on a roots-blues musical tale about the rural South and the business of moonshine. With multi-talented musicians, Max Drake (guitar/mandolin), Matt Hill (guitar/lap steel/banjo), and Chuck Cotton (drums/percussion), providing the basic “mash” for this distillation, Julie Bean (vocals), FJ Ventre (upright bass), Theresa Drake (percussion), Logie Meachum (guitars/vocals), Scott Manring (banjo/mandolin), and Juan Fernandez (vocals) add backing to the high shots, tempering “Popskull & High Art” to 100 proof. The result is an intriguing chronicle of legends and tall tales with superb musicianship from all involved.

Max Drake, Matt Hill and Chuck Cotton’s long pedigrees include playing with such blues greats as: Bob Margolin, Hubert Sumlin, Willie “Big Eyes” Smith, Pinetop Perkins, Big Jack Johnson, Carey Bell, Jimmy Rogers, Nappy Brown, and Big Bill Morganfield, to name just a few.

"Bone Creek" was screened in Greensboro, NC at the Carousel Luxury Cinemas (www.carouselcinemas.com) October 24 - 26, 2008. The film has been out to Colorado Springs, CO for review and a "sneak-peek" by industry professionals and university film professors. Argentinian director and writer, Gustavo Mercado, provided review of "BoneCreek." Mr. Mercado provided an in-depth anaysis of the film, discussed its many intricacies, and delivered an excellent review. He summarized his analysis by stating:

"Bone Creek is ambitious in its scope and subject matter. It is a partly a period film with an impressive art direction and overall solid casting. The cinematography is very polished throughout, and the direction of the actors insightful and consistent with the tone of the film. By far the most impressive aspect of this work is the creative integration of music and visuals beyond their empathetic compatibility, through the construction of a narrative that functions as a visualization of the complex ideas often hidden behind the simple metaphors of the blues structure. The film also works as a cautionary tale, showing the dangers of not being able to perceive things beyond preconceived notions, in this case the folklore and mythology of the rural South. The character of Israel says it best: "There ain't much truth to what people think they know." It was a pleasure watching and analyzing this film."

Carolina Collaborations has been together for five (5) years. Its first film "Dead Write" has won acclaim at film festivals and on PBS' NC Visions (see news archive for story). Its second film "Root Doctor" is currently being shown at film festivals and invitational screenings. "Root Doctor" also includes the documentary DVD "Folk Medicine", which has aired on South Carolina's Public Television, Southern Lens.

Carolina Collaborations Scripture Cake, A Southern Cuisine Movie premiered April 20, 2007 in Greensboro, NC, as well as at Broadcast Educators Association in Las Vegas and the Appalachian Film Festival.  See news story below for other information.

 

NEWS

"BONE CREEK" MOVIE NEWS
• Spooky Movie Gets Bluesman's Ticker Thumpin', Jeri Rowe, Greensboro News & Record, November 13, 2008
• Popskull and High Art CD review, Carla Kucinski Seward, Go Triad, November 21, 2008
• Bone Creek Premieres in Front of Hometown Crowd, Mark Burger, YES!Weekly, October 28, 2008
• Taking A Listen, [review of Popskull & High Art] Yes!Weekly, May 11, 2008
• Bone Creek Fires Up High Def Production, Student Filmmaker Magazine, January, 2008

GEORGE LINDSEY FILM FESTIVAL
The festival was quite an event. Emily Edwards sat on a panel discussing documentary film productions and the new film production incentives currently working its way through the Alabama Legislature. We had the opportunity to meet a number of filmmakers and DPs, along with none other than the festival's namesake, George "Goober" Lindsey, from the Andy Griffith Show. Guest of Honor was Billy Bob Thornton, along with Natalie Canerday and Lucas Black from Slingblade. Dwight Yoakum was scheduled to appear, but due to a film conflict was unable to attend. We couldn't meet Billy Bob or Lucas, but did have an opportunity to talk with Natalie. They discussed making Slingblade and how Billy Bob came up with the concept and the character of Karl. Afterwards, Billy Bob sat in on drums with the Decoys, some of the original Muscle Shoals "Swampers" studio musicians. "Scripture Cake:A Southern Cuisine Movie" took Second Place at the festival.

 
 Emily D. Edwards and George "Goober" Lindsey                                         Billy Bob Thornton                    

Natalie Canerday and George "Goober" Lindsey

LOGIE MEACHUM WINS O.HENRY AWARD
The O.Henry Award, presented by the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce and the United Arts Council of Greensboro, recognizes an individual's contribution to the arts and cultural development. The award for this year was recently presented to Logie Meachum, who played the role of Israel Summerfield, or "Uncle Shine" in Bone Creek. Logie has a wide and varied resume including Blues Artist, actor, writer, storyteller, and all-around good guy. Logie was the Blues Man in the Academy Award winning short "Two Soldiers" in 2003.  We congratulate Logie on this well-deserved award.

"BONE CREEK" PHOTO ON UNC-G WEBSITE
If you happen by the University of North Carolina-Greensboro website (www.uncg.edu) you'll see a "Bone Creek" photo of Max Drake in prison on the homepage. The photo randomly cycles to promote university news. A news story about the Broadcasting and Cinema faculty at UNC-G and the projects they're working on is posted. If you refresh the home page the image will (eventually) appear with a link to the news story. You can go directly to the article by pasting this URL: http://www.uncg.edu/stories/story_05.html

"BONE CREEK" IN POST PRODUCTION
Principle photography has been completed and post production is underway. We have completed ADR and are in the studio recording the blues soundtrack. Music Producer, Max Drake, who has shared the stage with B.B. King, Big Bill Morganfield, Robert Cray, Lightnin' Hopkins, Carey Bell, and Freddy King, is bringing his talent and knowledge to create the blues ambience for "Bone Creek." He's also coordinated the talents of musicians Matt Hill, Julie Bean, Chuck Cotton, FJ Ventre, Theresa Drake and most recently, Scott Manring, to lend a hand. He may get additional help from Logie Meachum and Juan Fernandez, who have starring roles in the feature. We've still got special effects, foley, and general sweetening to do, but the film is coming together.

"SCRIPTURE CAKE" ACCEPTED INTO THE GEORGE LINDSEY FILM FESTIVAL
"Scripture Cake" has been accepted into the George Lindsey Film Festival (www.lindseyfest.com) being held March 6-9. Emily Edwards has also been asked to sit on a panel to discuss filmmaking. Special guest this year is Billy Bob Thornton and the word is that there will be a "Slingblade" reunion. It should be an interesting event!

SCRIPTURE CAKE NEWS:
Emily and Michael have returned from the University Film & Video Association (UFVA) conference in Denton, TX, where Scripture Cake was screened and reviewed. Raymond Rea from the Cinema Dept.of San Francisco State University writes: "The interweaving of societal conflict, interpersonal conflict, and inner conflict, all around the subject of family and interracial union, is masterful."

"The enormity of the direction behind this film is immediately apparent in the ensemble cast representing the diverse
members of the extended family...Each performer, each character within the group clearly speaks with a cohesive and
consistent individuality. At the same time the cast functions as a unit, with no one performance stealing the fire. On the
contrary, all actors support each other and the whole, creating a powerfully believable family unit in the world of the film."

"Overall, I enjoyed this film. It tells a well-structured story of a very specific family, culture and location, but this family
soon becomes family to all of us. The combination of strong direction, shot placement, skilled photography, and
captivating performances, create a quality film product."

Scripture Cake has won "Best Screenplay" awards as well as a "Award of Excellence" and "Special Technical Merit" awards in competition.

FUNDING RESEARCH UNDERWAY
This is the most trying time for any production, as it's the time when we knock on doors to ask for funding. Grant writing is underway, as is finger-crossing, because funding can be hard to come by. We're talking to community businesses and we need your help. Please become a part of Carolina Collaborations by getting involved and providing support for this educational endeavor. Tell your friends, purchase DVDs or CDs, provide product placement or become an associate producer.

If you or your business is interested in contributing to the next film project, please let us know. See our Get Involved section to find out more or contact us via email.

News Archive