Laura Kissel's Cotton Road Comes to Indie Grits by Abby Davis

When asked what compelled her to make her film Cotton Road, a feature length documentary that takes the audience on a supply chain journey by following cotton from local South Carolina farms all the way to Chinese factories, Emmy nominated documentarian and professor at USC Laura Kissel explains it. “I wanted to know more about where our clothing comes from—what it takes to produce it, what the industrial processes and labor are like at each step, and why some clothing is so cheap. Why can we purchase a t-shirt for less than $10 when energy costs are high and when the raw materials to produce it have traveled thousands of miles? I am also deeply interested in other people, and so I wanted to make a film that tells this story from the point of view of workers in a typical cotton supply chain—farmers, truck drivers, migrant workers, etc. I wanted average workers to be the narrators, because they are voices we hardly ever hear from.”

Her ideas came together, and the film, which debuts in Columbia on Wednesday night as part of Indie Grits Film Festival, has already found great success and continues to do so. Cotton Road has screened at multiple festivals, universities, and community events around the country and even screened in Malaysia. Along the way, it picked up the Best Documentary award at the Beaufort International Film Festival, Best Documentary Feature at the Santa Monica Independent Film Festival, as well as four other awards.

Kissel says, “I’d like for audiences to think more deeply about where things come from and consider both our global connections to one another through the cycles of production and consumption that we participate in, as well as consider that there are human beings in supply chains…I hope people can be more mindful around consumption—particularly when it comes to clothing. Recycle what’s in your closet or if you really do need some new clothes, look for brands that have a strong commitment to transparency, a living wage, and sustainability…I’d like a nice mix of greater social awareness in a broader segment of the population.”

The documentary has sparked a variety of very practical viewer ideas including: making your own clothes, supporting local clothing producers and tailors, only purchasing clothes from secondhand and consignment stores, and stopping the mindless production of t-shirts for every single event.

If you enjoy Cotton Road, go ahead and get excited for Kissel’s next project. She says, “My next documentary will probably be a lot like Cotton Road. It will be a contemporary story, told by individuals who rarely get to speak in the national press in any significant way. I’d like to draw more attention to the growing gap between rich and poor and how this social reality physically structures and divides our communities. It will be in the style of Cotton Road—focusing on something seemingly mundane at first glance, but it will intensely reveal, over time, deeply entrenched social and political realities.”

Cotton Road is screening Wednesday, April 15th at 5:30pm during the opening night of Indie Grits Film Festival at the Nickelodeon Theater. For more information about the documentary, visit cottonroadmovie.com.

Call for Submissions: The Vistovka Transporte Project, an Indie Grits Installation

by: Abby Davis

Vistovka Transporte is a community driven arts installation coming to Indie Grits this year.  The project will use advertisements and public service announcements from the perspective of the city to illustrate how the people of Columbia view the future of public transportation.

Matt Tenebaum, the main brain behind Vistovka Transporte, says “It’s goal is to bring together these ideas under this year’s Indie Grits theme of future perfect and explore how people imagine an ideal Columbia, whether tomorrow or deep into a potential future.”

Borne from conversations with Andy Smith, executive director of the Nickelodeon, about doing a community-centered project that engaged with the festival’s theme, “Future Perfect,” the two eventually settled on the Vistoka Transporte idea. “We wanted a project that could get the community involved in the theme but also be a little satirical,” Tenebaum says. “When we discussed our mutual stories about biking and walking around Columbia, the idea to do the project about transportation began.”

The advertisements will be dispersed throughout the entire festival and placed in a way to make them look like natural advertisements done by the city. “We seek authenticity to both build the illusion that they are real and catch attention to the ideas they represent,” says Tenebaum.  A social media campaign will run simultaneously, serving both to draw attention to the ads and to explain the story behind them and the artists’ ideas for the future.

“Watching people think about issues or ideas that they feel strong about and then putting them into artistic form is a fascinating process,” Tenebaum continues. “Focusing that process towards a single subject reveals ideals and aspirations from many different people and paints its own picture of the community.  People want the city to be better; they aspire to live somewhere that has the things they want rather than just leave to somewhere that already has them.  They care, and for that reason I can’t wait to see what they have to say about their future perfect city.”

Submissions can be sent in through the website, vistovkatrasnporte.com or to vistovkatransporte@gmail.com.  Images need to be submitted as a jpg at a minimum of 300 dpi and cannot contain nudity or profanity.  Other than that, however, the project is open to a wide array of possibilities.  A sample list of potential subjects includes: “new or potential bike lanes, buses and bus routes, highway expansion, light rail, ride sharing programs, passenger tail lines, airport development and international terminal creation, super sonic air transportation, magnetic levitation trains, extra-orbital flights, space elevators, space ports, lunar travel, flights across the solar system, and interstellar travel.”

“One of the things I hope for the Vistovka to accomplish for the community is to draw those ideas into the fore.  The quality of them doesn’t matter in the face of simply putting them out there as inspiration for more,” concludes Tenebaum. “In many ways, the Vistovka really is just a textbook brainstorming session using Indie Grits as a white board.”

Arts & Draughts Friday Night w/ local brew - by Abby Davis

The 19^th installment of Arts & Draughts is happening this Friday, February 6^th, and you do not want to miss it. The Columbia Museum of Art will be filled with art, music, food, beer, entertainment, and the inevitable happiness that these things bring about.

River Rat Brewery will be offering tastings of their Broad River Red Ale. Phil Blair says, “This is the first time we’ve used a true local brewery and the response has been tremendous. I’m really looking forward to seeing people discovering it for the first time and seeing the brewery experience the program for the first time.” The Wurst Wagen, Bone-In Artisan Barbecue on Wheels, and The Belgian Waffle Truck, will provide the food.

There will be musical performances from Charlotte’s Sinners & Saints, Amigo, and Zack Joseph from Nashville. Blair says, “Our only real focus on the musical performances is quality; every act is handpicked by me with the goal of having the best show we can put together. I look for artists that aren’t oversaturated, that I think the diverse crowd will enjoy seeing and hearing, artists you don’t have to have any prior knowledge of, artists that are clearly talented and enjoyable.” The music will even extend outdoors with tunes provided by the Greater Columbia Society for the Preservation of Soul.

In addition to treats for your taste buds and ears, the event will feature docent-led tours, a puppet show by Lyon Hill, live chess in the galleries, screenings of Indie Grits Film Festival shorts, a scavenger hunt through the galleries, a Love-ly photo booth, creator space to make artful valentines, and even more.

Blair says, “We try to have as many interactive projects and as many galleries and gallery tours available as possible and partner with people doing cool things any chance we get. We really want people to be able to engage with the museum and the program in whatever way they enjoy most.” His favorite aspect of the event is “seeing the whole being more than the sum of the parts – Columbia embracing a real, diverse group of cultural components as one celebration.”

The event usually draws close to 1,000 people, but continues to expand. The last Arts & Draughts in November set an attendance record with close to 1,3000. Blair says, “Though it’s the 19^th installment, it almost seems new. We’re looking forward to growing and adding different elements in the future. Now that it’s proven that Columbia really enjoys this event, it’s our duty to make it fresh and keep it interesting.”

Tickets are $8, $5 for members of the museum, and available at columbiamuseum.org/artsanddraughts/event?e=5-3&s=4.

-by Abby Davis

First Fridays are about Lowbrow Cinema - Friday September 5th

 

The First Friday Lowbrow Cinema Explosion began in October 2013.  The Nickelodeon invited Bickel to curate a “B movie” series, and he enthusiastically ran with it.  Bickel says, “Rather than do straight ‘B movies,’ I wanted to have the series profile movies which fit a loose set of parameters that I like to call ‘lowbrow.’ We’re mostly dealing with horror and exploitation titles, all with elements that I’d describe as ‘over the top.’”

Past films include Rats: Night of Terror, Pieces, Black Christmas, Hard Ticket to Hawaii, Dolemite, Maniac, Cannibal Ferox, Blood Feast, Bloodsucking Freaks, Pink Flamingos, and MS 45.  Of these films, Bickel says, “Pink Flamingos was the biggest crowd we had.  Black Christmas creeped people out the most.  Hard Ticket to Hawaii had the audience laughing the most.”

While these are all films that Bickel loves, he selects the films in the series “for their authenticity of execution as well as their over-the-top content.”  He tries to pick “the most mind-meltingly oddball films from the golden age of splatter and exploitation.”  Upcoming films include Ilsa She Wolf of the SS, Female Convict Scorpion: Jailhouse 41, Cemetery Man, Silent Night Deadly Night, Sleepaway Camp, and My Bloody Valentine.

Screenings take place at 11:00 pm on Friday nights, and the audience is fairly warned about what they are getting themselves into.  While the films undeniably push multiple boundaries, the series has been incredibly well received.  Bickel says, “After the movies I am generally thanked for bringing something to the screen that someone had only ever heard about or showing something someone remembered renting on VHS when they were a teenager and thought they would never get to see in a crowded theatre.”  Bickel would like for attendees to learn something new about this type of cinema that’s most likely quite different from what they’re used to, but he mostly hopes people enjoy the film and have a great time.  The films do go “too far,” but the audience seems to appreciate them for this very reason and be willing to go “too far” along with them.  “Columbia is suddenly more open-minded than we all thought!” says Bickel.

- Abby Davis

Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS will be playing at the Nickelodeon Theatre on Friday, September 5^th at 11:00 pm.  Tickets can be purchased at www.nickelodeon.org.