Anne Lewis
Senior Lecturer
E-mail: alewis615@earthlink.net
Office: CMA 4.204
Phone: 512-656-0507
B.F.A., School of Visual Arts, NYC
Curriculum Vitae - PDF
Anne Lewis is an independent documentary-maker associated with Appalshop Films, a media arts and cultural center located in Whitesburg, Kentucky, in the heart of the Central Appalachian Coalfields. Her work reveals working class people fighting for social change. Anne was associate director/assistant camera for HARLAN COUNTY, U.S.A., the Academy Award-winning documentary about the Brookside strike. After the strike, she moved to the eastern Kentucky coalfields where she lived for 25 years.
Documentaries she produced, directed, and edited include: TO SAVE THE LAND AND PEOPLE (SXSW, Texas Documentary Tour) a history of a militant grassroots environmental movement; JUSTICE IN THE COALFIELDS (INTERCOM gold plaque) about the community impact of the Pittston strike; ON OUR OWN LAND (duPont-Columbia award for independent broadcast journalism) about the citizens' movement to stop broad form deed strip mining; and CHEMICAL VALLEY co-directed with Mimi Pickering (P.O.V., American Film and Video Blue Ribbon) about environmental racism and most recently, SHELTER (Honorable Mention, New Jersey International Film Festival) which tells the stories of 5 West Virginia women as they try to find freedom, justice and safety.
Her documentary, FAST FOOD WOMEN, about women struggling to raise families in minimum wage jobs with no benefits, received national airing on P.O.V. and was part of a Learning Channel series of films about women by women.
Other recognized work includes: EVELYN WILLIAMS, African American activist, coal miner’s wife and mother of nine (Juror’s Choice, Black Maria Film Festival, Margaret Meade Festival); BELINDA, the AIDS activist who spoke of the need for a collective response not crippled by homophobia, racism, fear, or ignorance (CINE Golden Eagle); MINNIE BLACK'S GOURD BAND (Retirement Research Foundation Silver Owl Award, Museum of Modern Art screening); and MABEL PARKER HARDISON SMITH about an African-American teacher and gospel musician (Atlanta Film and Video Festival, Anthros '87/the Barbara Myerhoff Film Festival, Women in the Director's Chair).
She recently has completed several films:
MORRISTOWN - a working class response to globalization
HIGH STAKES - about high stakes standardized testing of 5th graders (15 minute version)
¡YA BASTA! (about Texas labor history) and HIGH STAKES (a full length version) are still in production.
Anne currently lives in Austin, Texas.
FILMS
Distributor (unless otherwise noted)
APPALSHOP FILMS
Tel: (800) 545-7467
Fax: (606) 633-1009
STORIES OF IMMIGRANT SURVIVORS OF ABUSE: REMEDIES UNDER THE VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN ACT (2001) Made for the Political Asylum Project of Austin.
SHELTER (2001) Explores institutional response to domestic violence against women and offers a positive and healing approach from within a community of rural women.
Appalshop Website film description
Search for this film on the ITVS catalog list
TO SAVE THE LAND AND PEOPLE (1999) A history of the citizen’s movement to abolish strip mining in eastern Kentucky.
To Save the Land and People
HIS EYE IS ON THE SPARROW (1999) Portrait of Ethel Caffie-Austin, West Virginia ’s first lady of gospel music.
EVELYN WILLIAMS (1995) About the coal miner’s daughter and wife, mother of nine, domestic worker and community organizer whose awareness of class and race oppression has led her to a lifetime of activism.
JUSTICE IN THE COALFIELDS (1995) Explores the community impact of the United Mine Workers strike against the Pittston Coal Company. Search for this film on the ITVS catalog list…
Justice in the Coalfields
BELINDA (1993) The AIDS advocate who spoke of the need for a collective response not crippled by homophobia, racism, fear, or ignorance.
FAST FOOD WOMEN (1992) About women struggling to raise families in minimum wage jobs with no benefits. P.O.V. Website…
Fast Food Women
CHEMICAL VALLEY (1991) With Mimi Pickering which explores issues of environmental justice and environmental racism in Institute, West Virginia. P.O.V. Website…
ON OUR OWN LAND (1989) About the citizens' movement to stop strip mining without the landowner's consent.
READY FOR HARVEST, CLEARCUTTING IN THE SOUTHERN APPALACHIANS About how we use and protect our native forests.
MORGAN SEXTON: BANJO PLAYER FROM BULL CREEK About the National Heritage Award winner.
YELLOW CREEK KENTUCKY About a community's efforts to resolve a toxics issue.
MABEL PARKER HARDISON SMITH African-American teacher in the coalfields for 35 years and gospel musician.
MINE WAR ON BLACKBERRY CREEK About the United Mine Workers strike against A.T. Massey Coal.
PEACE STORIES Experiences of three veterans from the south who decided that war is wrong.
MUD CREEK CLINIC About a primary health clinic organized by a welfare rights organization in eastern Kentucky.
MINNIE BLACK'S GOURD BAND
LINKS
Appalshop Films
Appalshop is a media arts and cultural center located in Whitesburg, Kentucky, in the heart of the Central Appalachian Coalfields.
ITVS - Independent Television Service
The Texas Documentary Tour: Neighborhood Watch
Austin Chronicle, August 1999 by Anne S. Lewis
Anne Lewis' FAST FOOD WOMEN and TO SAVE THE LAND AND PEOPLE
