LPB TO BROADCAST CLEMENTINE DOCUMENTARY

Clementine Hunter was a self-taught artist whose work has shed new light on the untold stories of African American workers. Louisiana Public Broadcasting (LPB) is proud to present the broadcast premiere of Clementine Hunter’s World, a short documentary exploring her life and work. The film airs Monday, August 23, 2021 at 7:00 PM. An encore is planned for Saturday, August 28 at 8:00 PM.

The Louisiana produced film combines vintage photographs with Hunter’s colorful paintings to bring her story to life. From her tiny cabin on the grounds of the rural Melrose Plantation, Clementine Hunter painted thousands of images recalling her history, providing a visual diary of Black life in Melrose and revealing colorful tales of life along Louisiana’s Cane River. Today, paintings she once sold for pennies sell for thousands of dollars, and hang in private collections and prestigious galleries around the world.

“Clementine Hunter’s body of work is more than just a Louisiana treasure; it’s a treasure we happily share with the entire world because of the priceless perspective she provides for us,” says LPB President and CEO Beth Courtney. “This is a documentary that was shown at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History & Culture. LPB is so proud to be able to provide the broadcast debut to our statewide audience.”

Art Shiver, the writer and director of Clementine Hunter’s World, was determined to create the entire documentary within Hunter’s home state of Louisiana. The production crew – responsible for everything from the cinematography, to the original music, to the graphics and marketing – all hail from Louisiana. “Everyone who worked on this film had a sense of pride knowing we were documenting the life of a Louisiana Legend. Now, thanks to LPB, that legend will be shared with people throughout the state.”

Shiver, along with noted Hunter historians Tom Whitehead of Natchitoches and Henry Price of Shreveport, will join Southern University’s Robyn Merrick on the night of the broadcast to provide additional perspectives and stories about the making of the documentary.

For more information, contact Colleen Spillane, Public Information Officer, Louisiana Public Broadcasting at (225)-767-4453 or 1-800-272-8161 ext. 4453 or by email at cspillane@lpb.org.

We are proud and honored to have won 1st PLACE for “Short Documentary” at the Lake Charles Film and Music Festival! Thank you to the festival officials who made this great Louisiana event possible!

We are proud and honored to have won 1st PLACE for “Short Documentary” at the Reel East Texas Film Festival in Kilgore, Texas. Thank you to festival officials for making this an exciting and professionally run event!

With each brushstroke, Clementine Hunter revealed colorful tales of Louisiana’s Cane River Country. She never learned to read or write, but this self-taught artist painted a visual diary illuminating the racial divide on “the other side” of the 20th century plantation fence.

Executive Director responds after screenings at Robinson Film Center:

“Congratulations on a fantastic evening! I enjoyed hosting you and your crew, and our audience had such wonderful things to say about the film and the talk. Success all around! I look forward to working with you again!”

Meghan Hochstetler

Executive Director, Robinson Film Center

The self-taught African American artist, Clementine Hunter, tells important stories through her art. The documentary film of her life and work, Clementine Hunter’s World, thoughtfully and beautifully sets those stories in the only home Hunter knew – the Cane River country of Louisiana – a most particular place on the landscape and time in our nation’s past. This amazing film definitely drew viewers into a deeper appreciation of Hunter’s life and art. It truly is a fabulous experience!

Nancy I.M. Morgan, Ph.D.

Co-Executive Director, Goodwood Museum & Gardens

Clementine Hunter’s World
A Film by Art Shiver

Clementine Hunter’s World is a new short documentary on the life and work of self-taught, African American artist Clementine Hunter. Written and directed by Art Shiver, Clementine Hunter’s World combines vintage photographs with Hunter’s images to bring her story to life. The two showings of the film on February 2 were followed by a Q&A with the filmmaker and community leaders.

According to Mr. Shiver, “I am very proud the film was entirely produced within Hunter’s home state of Louisiana using all Louisiana talent. The timing has been remarkable because, both African House, as well as Hunter’s murals have recently been beautifully restored – and they are today as vibrant as they must have been the day Clementine finished them. This is the first film to take the viewers on a cinematic tour of the famed African House murals. Each panel is examined in detail for the first time on film.”

About the film:
Just as the civil rights protests were beginning to jolt America, self-taught African American artist, Clementine Hunter quietly painted a visual diary of plantation life in Melrose, Louisiana. In a community where history was an oral tradition, written documents were mostly of the white plantation owners. Clementine Hunter’s vast collection of painted memories shed new light on the untold stories of African American workers. With each creation, she revealed colorful tales of mid-century plantation life in the Cane River Country.

Join Emmy Award Winning television broadcaster, Noelle Bellow, whose family traces its roots to the earliest days of the Cane River, as she explores the vividly restored murals that reveal one woman’s unique perspective on history. This is the story of an uneducated African American house servant who became a world-famous artist. Though she never learned to read or write, Clementine Hunter painted thousands of images immortalizing her experiences living in the rural South. This is Clementine Hunter’s World.

About Clementine Hunter

From the time Clementine Hunter first picked up a brush in the late 1940s until her death in 1988, she painted thousands of images recalling her life on a 20th century plantation. Southern plantation history is often white-centric, but Hunter’s art records and recalls life among the African American workers. As the artist quietly painted her colorful pictures, initially by the light of a kerosene lamp, rumblings of unrest were just beginning to awaken Americans to the changes coming in civil rights. From her tiny cabin on the grounds of rural Melrose Plantation in Louisiana, she knew little if anything about the protests breaking out across the south. She painted her life as she knew it; and in doing so, left a visual diary that sheds light on the other side of the plantation’s racial divide. Today, paintings she sold for pennies sell for thousands of dollars and hang in private collections and prestigious galleries around the world.

About the making of the film

The writer and director of the film, noted author, Art Shiver, was determined to create the entire documentary within the artist’s home state of Louisiana. He chose Anne Gremillion and her firm, Gremillion & Pou Integrated Marketing, to produce the film with Matt Weeks as Director of Photography and Editor; Noelle Bellow as moderator; Henry Price as historical commentator; John W. Gayle as the voice of Francois Mignon; Nathan Pizar for Motion Graphics, Wade Marshall as composer of original soundtrack; Jared Navarre as photographer; Brad Campbell for Graphic Design; Chris Lyon as Production Supervisor; Alec McCommon, Clint McCommon and Jeremy Spring as Production Crew; Allison LaCour for Hair and Make-Up.

For More Information Contact
Anne Gremillion, Producer / (318) 286-0456
anne@annegremillion.com