- Fri Dec 22, 2006 3:56 am
#177
Hey y'all -
My film, 'A Christmas Family Tragedy', has been released on DVD at www.bodproductions.com and in limited theatrical release. So far the response has been fantastic, we've had over 1200 people turn out for 6 showings around the triangle and triad. But, more importantly, the film is changing lives in a community that has been divided by a horrible crime 77 years ago.
On Christmas Day, 1929, a widely respected, affluent tobacco farmer named Charlie Lawson brutally murdered his wife, 6 of his 7 children, and then himself; his eldest son, Arthur, aged 18, was sent to the store to buy more shotgun shells just before the violence broke out. Never so much a 'who-dunnit' as a resounding 'Why?!', this mystery has inspired classic bluegrass murder ballads, ghost stories, family feuds, and overcapacity crowds for annual retellings of the story.
But a heritage of silence follows the mystery, often with deadly consequences, in a bucolic rural community unable to come to terms with its darker side. The ballad used to be sung as a warning to the wives and kids in this area to behave or else; now it is starting to be sung as a warning to abusers, to where their malevolent actions could lead.
To put our money where our mouths are here, we're setting aside a healthy percentage of the profits of this film to benefit local domestic violence organizations, beginning with Stokes Family Violence Services, where we look to get the county's first battered women's shelter over the hump and into operation before the beginning of the next school year.
Already the film is having a powerful affect on both viewers, and the family. I got a letter this week from a man in his 80's, who had started out hostile to the film for exposing a dark side of his family's history. However, after watching the film he decided that enough was enough. All these years he has been silent, even denying, domestic abuse in the family. He wrote to tell us that many of the women in the family have always known, but there has been no acknowledgment by the family, but that now he is ready to see his family heal, and he will step up to the plate at the next family reunion. Heady stuff, but the intention was always there, and I'm thankful for everyone who supported me this summer in clarifying my intentions and in becoming a leader to see the film thru to successful completion.
Please support 'A Christmas Family Tragedy'! Go to www.bodproductions.com for a DVD, and to see when the film will be screening in your area.
Peace, Love, and Egg Nog,
Eric
My film, 'A Christmas Family Tragedy', has been released on DVD at www.bodproductions.com and in limited theatrical release. So far the response has been fantastic, we've had over 1200 people turn out for 6 showings around the triangle and triad. But, more importantly, the film is changing lives in a community that has been divided by a horrible crime 77 years ago.
On Christmas Day, 1929, a widely respected, affluent tobacco farmer named Charlie Lawson brutally murdered his wife, 6 of his 7 children, and then himself; his eldest son, Arthur, aged 18, was sent to the store to buy more shotgun shells just before the violence broke out. Never so much a 'who-dunnit' as a resounding 'Why?!', this mystery has inspired classic bluegrass murder ballads, ghost stories, family feuds, and overcapacity crowds for annual retellings of the story.
But a heritage of silence follows the mystery, often with deadly consequences, in a bucolic rural community unable to come to terms with its darker side. The ballad used to be sung as a warning to the wives and kids in this area to behave or else; now it is starting to be sung as a warning to abusers, to where their malevolent actions could lead.
To put our money where our mouths are here, we're setting aside a healthy percentage of the profits of this film to benefit local domestic violence organizations, beginning with Stokes Family Violence Services, where we look to get the county's first battered women's shelter over the hump and into operation before the beginning of the next school year.
Already the film is having a powerful affect on both viewers, and the family. I got a letter this week from a man in his 80's, who had started out hostile to the film for exposing a dark side of his family's history. However, after watching the film he decided that enough was enough. All these years he has been silent, even denying, domestic abuse in the family. He wrote to tell us that many of the women in the family have always known, but there has been no acknowledgment by the family, but that now he is ready to see his family heal, and he will step up to the plate at the next family reunion. Heady stuff, but the intention was always there, and I'm thankful for everyone who supported me this summer in clarifying my intentions and in becoming a leader to see the film thru to successful completion.
Please support 'A Christmas Family Tragedy'! Go to www.bodproductions.com for a DVD, and to see when the film will be screening in your area.
Peace, Love, and Egg Nog,
Eric