MattLisle.com A bit of everything

My First Foray Into Filmmaking

In 2004, I worked with three fellow grad students to create a documentary about a folk artist in Crawford, GA named Bennie Morrison. Bennie paints on a variety of objects including magnolia leaves, bricks, satellite dishes, fans, and more. His art depicts cotton fields, aliens, school buses, farms, outhouses, and any other scene he imagines.

The project was a blast to work on. We were able to spend time with Bennie and watch his process for making art. We learned how to operate cameras, capture audio with a boom mic, and edit video. My old band even provided the music.

It initially began as a class project,  but we continued working on the film after the class ended and were accepted into the 2004 Athens Film Festival. That meant that we got to see our movie on the big screen at the Morton Theater.

So, I finally got around to posting part of the documentary on YouTube. Hopefully more people will learn about Bennie's work now that he's Internet-famous.