Southern Shorts, a program of short documentary films made by N.C. filmmakers:

-- Accompanied by Q&A with the filmmakers!

Kudzu Vine (Josh Gibson, 2011, 20 min, B&W)

A train advances through a railroad crossing flanked by dark masses of leaves and exits through the left of the frame, as if backwards in time. A radio program broadcasting to Georgia farmers waxes lyrical about kudzu’s many uses and virtues. The radio station changes, and a recording of “Dixieland” ushers in surreal images and sounds of kudzu vines creeping forward, some say a foot a day. We see contemporary farmers and others who harness the potential of the maligned vine feed it to the cows, fry it up, and make baskets. Through images of kudzu-covered forms, photographed in black and white, hand-processed 35mm CinemaScope and radiating with the luminance of early cinema, this ode to the climbing, trailing, and coiling species Pueraria lobata evokes the agricultural history and mythic textures of the South, while paying tribute to the human capacity for improvisation.

-- Winner for Best Documentary Short in LA Film Festival

More info: http://joshgibsonfilms.com/Kudzu-Vine

One Night in Kernersville (Rodrigo Dorfman, 2011, 20 min, Color)

Musician and band leader John Brown is about to live the dream of his life: to make a big band Jazz recording. Set in the legendary recording studios of Mitch Easter, this short film takes you into the body and soul of what it means to be a Jazz musician today.

More info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1772327/

After Sherman (Jon-Sesrie Goff, 2016, 30 min, Color)

More info: http://aftersherman.com/?page_id=22

The Last Barn Dance (Ted Richardson & Jason Arthurs, 2014, 32 min, Color)

Randy Lewis knows that losing his dairy business would mean losing his livelihood – his farm is limping along through an economy that has decimated most other family farms in Alamance County – but Randy is most worried about losing his way of life and ending a family heritage that has hosted nearly 50 years worth of barn dances. The farm is fragile, the band is old, the barn is beaten, and Randy, with no kids of his own and little faith the younger generation will pick up the pieces, is trying to save the dance.

More info: http://lastbarndance.com/

Cost: Free and open to the public

Sponsors: Nasher Museum of Art, and the Program in the Arts of the Moving Image (AMI).