Body Works: Summerour’s Quiet Reimagining of Notable Scandal an Ambivalent Mix
For his directorial debut, John Henry Summerour fictionalizes a decade old account of a notorious crematorium scandal in 2002 northwestern Georgia (the director’s native stomping grounds) for his debut, Sahkanaga, in which the Environmental Protection Agency, from an anonymous tip, discovered more than 300 bodies in various states of decomposition, dumped unceremoniously in the woods instead of being cremated. Summerour tells the tale from the perspective of an adolescent boy, whose accidental discovery of the grisly details leads to his rite of passage as far as discovering the cruel realities of an ignorant small town community. Grotesque details aside, Summerour’s film is mostly an understated community drama about religious hypocrisy in a small town, albeit without any particular statement about the rights and wrongs of the cultural beliefs examined. While this observational quality is mostly appealing for this intriguing aspect,...
For his directorial debut, John Henry Summerour fictionalizes a decade old account of a notorious crematorium scandal in 2002 northwestern Georgia (the director’s native stomping grounds) for his debut, Sahkanaga, in which the Environmental Protection Agency, from an anonymous tip, discovered more than 300 bodies in various states of decomposition, dumped unceremoniously in the woods instead of being cremated. Summerour tells the tale from the perspective of an adolescent boy, whose accidental discovery of the grisly details leads to his rite of passage as far as discovering the cruel realities of an ignorant small town community. Grotesque details aside, Summerour’s film is mostly an understated community drama about religious hypocrisy in a small town, albeit without any particular statement about the rights and wrongs of the cultural beliefs examined. While this observational quality is mostly appealing for this intriguing aspect,...
- 12/6/2012
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
The following Q&A is an excerpt from a conversation between filmmaker John Henry Summerour and John DeVore, a writer for The Pulse, Chattanooga’s weekly alternative. (DeVore’s Pulse feature on Summerour can be found here.) Summerour discusses the importance of his personal relationship with the South in making his newest film Sahkanaga (“Great Blue Hills of God” in Cherokee), which is inspired by the Tri-State Crematory scandal. In 2002, it was discovered that over 300 bodies that had been committed to the crematory in Georgia for proper disposal were never cremated and instead buried or left in a shed and the …...
- 12/4/2012
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
The East End Film Festival opens this evening with Roger Sargent's doc, The Libertines: There Are No Innocent Bystanders. The festival then kind of goes berserk on Sunday with Movie Mayday, "a free day of cinema, live music, cinema trails, virtual tours, filmmaking competitions, quizzes and talks blanketing the whole of London's East End," and a screening of Ken Russell's The Devils (1971) at the Barbican that Electric Sheep's pretty excited about. They also urge readers not to miss Friday's screening of Jerzy Kawalerowicz's Mother Joan of Angels (1961) "in the beautiful church of St John on Bethnal Green."
Update, 4/29: "As part of the East End Film Festival, legendary Portishead Adrian Utley was approached to select a film to screen and introduce; he chose the new digitally restored Taxi Driver — cleaned up by Martin Scorsese himself." Simon Jablonski: "The Quietus spoke to Adrian Utley to find out the details...
Update, 4/29: "As part of the East End Film Festival, legendary Portishead Adrian Utley was approached to select a film to screen and introduce; he chose the new digitally restored Taxi Driver — cleaned up by Martin Scorsese himself." Simon Jablonski: "The Quietus spoke to Adrian Utley to find out the details...
- 4/29/2011
- MUBI
The Independent Film Festival of Boston (IFFBoston) kicks off this Wednesday, and has a number of impressive films in its line-up. The festival will take place at the Somerville Theatre in Davis Square, the Brattle Theatre in Harvard Square, the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline, and the Stuart Street Playhouse in downtown Boston. The festival, complete with over 110 film screenings, filmmaker Q&A sessions, panel discussions, visiting filmmakers, parties and events will showcase the best in current American and International cinema.
The opening night film of the festival is Being Elmo directed by Constance Marks will open the 9th annual festival on April 27th at the Somerville Theatre. This marks the first time the festival will open with a documentary. The film follows Kevin Clash, from humble upbringings as he follows his dream to become a puppeteer and one day work with his idol, Jim Henson, to the present day...
The opening night film of the festival is Being Elmo directed by Constance Marks will open the 9th annual festival on April 27th at the Somerville Theatre. This marks the first time the festival will open with a documentary. The film follows Kevin Clash, from humble upbringings as he follows his dream to become a puppeteer and one day work with his idol, Jim Henson, to the present day...
- 4/26/2011
- by Kristen Coates
- The Film Stage
The Independent Film Festival of Boston [1] recently released their full line-up and it's a doozy. Sundance favorites such as The Future [2] and Submarine [3] will be there, along with awesome documentaries like Being Elmo [4] (With Elmo In Attendance!!!) and Page One: A Year Inside the New York Times [5]. I'm looking forward to films I wasn't able to catch at Sundance and SXSW, such as the legal documentary Hot Coffee, the heartbreaking How to Die in Oregon, and the new fascinating Conan O'Brien film. Takashi Miike's 13 Assassins [6] also looks like it will rock the house. The full line-up is below. The festival is April 27th through May 4th, and it's one of my favorite movie events of the year. If you live anywhere in New England, I invite you to come and check it out. You can follow IFFBoston on Facebook for updates [7] or buy your passes now [8]! Narrative Features 13 Assassins...
- 3/25/2011
- by David Chen
- Slash Film
The 9th Annual Independent Film Festival Boston is running this April 27-May 4, 2011, and the powers-that-be have announced the full lineup. While less than half of the features are horror based, those that are should make for some fun, fright-filled nights for the attendees.
Here's a rundown of the horror, mystery, and action/thriller titles being shown at the 2011 Iffb (a few are definitely on the fringe, but we figured the more you had to choose from, the better!):
13 Assasins directed by Takashi Miike
A group of assassins come together for a suicide mission to kill an evil lord. Bellflower directed by Evan Glodell
Two friends spend all their free time building flame-throwers and weapons of mass destruction in hopes that a global apocalypse will occur and clear the runway for their imaginary gang "Mother Medusa". The Catechism Cataclysm directed by Todd Rohal
Father William Smoortser drops his bible into...
Here's a rundown of the horror, mystery, and action/thriller titles being shown at the 2011 Iffb (a few are definitely on the fringe, but we figured the more you had to choose from, the better!):
13 Assasins directed by Takashi Miike
A group of assassins come together for a suicide mission to kill an evil lord. Bellflower directed by Evan Glodell
Two friends spend all their free time building flame-throwers and weapons of mass destruction in hopes that a global apocalypse will occur and clear the runway for their imaginary gang "Mother Medusa". The Catechism Cataclysm directed by Todd Rohal
Father William Smoortser drops his bible into...
- 3/22/2011
- by The Woman In Black
- DreadCentral.com
#41. Sahkanaga - John Henry Summerour Of the several Ifp Narrative Lab and Lab Fellows mentioned on this list of 50, it's director, writer, producer Nyu's Tisch grad John Henry Summerour's Sahkanaga that is the sort of film that is closest to the festival's mandate if I go by what I read here. A project that has been gestating for a while now, took shape out of some basic interviews, followed by a short film going by the title of Chickamauga, and then into a feature -- the sort of low-budget, non-actor, Super 16mm film that could perhaps secure a birth in the very popular Next section. Paul, a teenager in rural Georgia, throws out his sister’s kitten. When he’s forced to search for the cat, he stumbles upon a gruesome discovery in the woods. If he tells the truth, he risks exposing his parents who run the local funeral home,...
- 11/6/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
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