Notes

Much of the fall and winter was spent on a fascinating project with the Anacostia Community Museum.  Yellow Cat Productions provided production services to capture family stories about the war. Visitors could hear these stories on ipads placed throughout the exhibit using custom ipad apps Yellow Cat developed that allowed random access.

If you're in the area have a visit.

How the Civil War Changed Washington

February 2, 2015 – November 15, 2015

Periodically you get to have a fun time on location and this was one. Jon Stewart was great to work with. We had great snappy patter. What more could you ask for?

The Southern Register gave Homeplace a nice write up in the Summer edition.

A number of people have urged us to release our ancient Rita Mae Brown documentary (1986). So we've done that and it's viewable at vimeo.com/ondemand/rita. The project was a co production between Yellow Cat and Joel Foreman. Our previous effort with Joel was a documentary with William Styron.

The project was a long-term effort. We went down to her farm in Charlottesville, VA once a month for over two and a half years; I don’t think people get that luxury as often these days.

Well you learn something everyday. All these years of visual research, programs in maritime and naval museums and there are still large surprises in American history. I just found this arcane bit and was intrigued.

John Paul Jones was one of my boyhood heroes. I’ve visited his tomb in Annapolis. His famous quote “I’ve not yet begun to fight!” was not only inspiring but he meant what he said. He and his crew boarded HMS Serapis while Bonhomme Richard sank along side taking its colors to the bottom.

In March 2013 The Library of Congress acquired the “Michael Ford Mississippi Collection.”  The collection consists of 16,ooo feet of 16mm film, 10.5 hours of recordings of interviews and music, and 1000+ still photographs made during the production of HOMEPLACE in 1972-73. The material will be used in a 40 year retrospective documentary presently in production. The material to be gathered on the 3 week shoot this spring will be added the Library’s holdings at a later date.