More good press for 'Them That Work.'
Thanks Audrey for the article.


http://www.register-herald.com/local/local_story_190223141.html

Beckley man’s ‘Matewan’ film under way

Audrey Stanton
Register-Herald Reporter

Is it possible for the same piece of history to have two impacts on a region — more than 60 years apart?

Jason Brown thinks so. The local filmmaker has set out to document just how the 1920 shootout between union miners and coal company security guards at Matewan influenced the region 66 years later when independent filmmaker and screenwriter John Sayles wrote a fictionalized account of the Matewan Massacre, then filmed it at Thurmond.

“What I’m trying to do with this little movie is take a picture of the people and the places involved in the film and show how the film has changed, influenced and inspired a lot of people,” Brown said.

In the last year, he’s found several people to help him capture that image, but he’s looking for more.

He’s interviewed filmmaker Danny Boyd, actor Jim Damron, actor David Strathairn, filmmaker/actor Scott A. Martin and the former mayors of Thurmond, John and Ellen Bullock. Soon, he’ll be interviewing locals involved in the film, including Mount Hope Mayor Michael Martin, who acted in “Matewan” and several other films. And next week, he plans to interview Sayles and “Matewan” co-producer Maggie Renzi.

His footage also includes interviews with student filmmakers inspired by the film, a seamstress who worked on the film and even a guy who showed up for the casting call but didn’t get in the movie. And he’s not finished. Brown — who holds a master’s degree in film studies from Hollins University — continues to seek and find additional West Virginians who were involved with the film.

“There are so many great stories to be told because this was a special event that touched people’s lives,” he said. “ ... In my mind, if this film sparked a light in one person, that offsets the thousands of lights that have been dampened by life’s hardships, my hope is that people being reminded of inspiration through this project will be able to find their own somewhere else.”

Brown’s inspiration for making the film began when he was a student at Concord College, where just about everyone he met seemed to have a “Matewan” story.

“They’d say, ‘I was in ‘Matewan,’ and then they’d tell these cool little stories,” Brown said. “And I started thinking, how did this affect you? I think that needs to be told.”

Brown has titled the unfinished documentary “Them That Work,” but he noted that’s subject to change. Whatever it’s called, it already has support and encouragement from Sayles, Renzi and “Matewan” co-producer Peggy Rajski. Morgan Spurlock has offered support and agreed to be interviewed, and West Virginia Public Broadcasting has written a letter in support of the project.

“Making movies is so competitive, unfortunately, that you can never have enough people supporting you, so I’m always looking for people to back this cause,” Brown said.

The project was recently accepted into the Independent Film Project’s Fiscal Sponsorship Program (IFP.org), which will allow people to make tax-deductible donations to it. IFP works with filmmakers by allowing them to use their nonprofit status to offer potential donors a possible tax break for supporting a project. It is set up to take donations both in large corporate amounts and the small birthday card-sized — both through a secure online account or regular mail.

“At this point, I’ve received a couple small grants from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, but I’ve spent thousands of dollars out of my own pocket to make this movie, knowing that it’s going to take thousands more,” Brown said.

Information on the project is available at Brown’s Web site, pewterproductions.com, or he can be reached by mail at Jason Brown, 1038 N. Eisenhower Drive, Beckley, WV 25801.

— E-mail:
bnaudrey@register-herald.com