Clip 1: Power of Photography (00:00:00-00:01:28, length: 1:28 minutes)

The clip begins with a series of work from young photographers with accompanying titles and descriptions: self-portraits and fantasies and dreams. The clip ends at 00:01:28 with a contact sheet of self-portraits and dreams by Denise.

This clip highlights the work of two young photographers in particular: Denise and Russell Akemon, then 4th graders. Within the clip, you see the importance of text—the titles and captions that the photographers write to accompany their images and the photographs themselves. Russell describes the power of photography in his life, specifically how photography has served as a reminder of and a connection to people who have passed away. Denise’s photography work is a series of fantasies and dreams in which she and her twin brothers act out iconic characters.

Clip 2: Dreams (00:38:06-00:39:36, length: 1:30 minutes)

The clip begins with a series of Denise’s photographs of haunting landscapes and her childhood descriptions of her dreams. The clip ends with a series of self-portraits that young Denise made of herself as Marilyn Monroe and Dolly Parton.

Denise’s series of dream photographs are set in a neighboring graveyard and feature her younger twin brothers, one of whom is on a quest to kill his vampire other. The series also includes photographs that illustrate Denise’s penchant for posing her dolls in dramatic scenarios and ways that she used photography as a way of portraying famous figures. The clip concludes with adult Denise and Wendy arranging a bulletin for an upcoming photography exhibit. This clip engages viewers in a personal exploration of how art can be a vehicle for expressing internal fantasies and hopes.

Clip 3: Challenging perceptions of rural poverty (00:23:40-00:26:53, length: 3:13 minutes)

The clip begins at 00:23:40 with elementary school principal Sue Dixon Brashear calling students to the office for awards and fades into a portrait she made in 7th grade about the sensation of falling in dreams. The clip concludes at 00:26:53 with a photomontage of Sue’s work.

Throughout the clip, Sue looks through the published collection of portraits and reminisces about the project and how she sees it now in relation to her work as teacher. She asks Wendy how people in other places see these pictures and see her and her peers. She wonders aloud if these pictures are possibly interpreted by people from other places as pictures about poverty. Sue says, “We were poor, but we didn’t feel that way.” And she then elaborates, “We were important because we were taking these pictures.” The conversation between Sue and Wendy moves to Sue’s cabin, a building that is in many ways a living installation of Sue’s art and imagination.

Clip 4: Revisiting Childhood Memories (00:26:54-00:32:59, length: 6:05 minutes)

The clip begins at 00:26:54 with a black and white photograph of two coal miners walking home and the voice of young Johnny talking about mining, the main source of employment in his community. The clip ends with a portrait of young Johnny with his hands behind his back.

Throughout this clip, Johnny describes the dangers of coal mining. Viewers will see a series of Johnny’s family portraits and hear him reflect about the challenges of his fatherless childhood, his childhood play, and his current success as a father and heavy equipment operator. With his son, Johnny recalls his experiences being photographed by Wendy as a child. Later, sitting with Wendy in an emotionally provocative scene, Johnny reads his description of his family from the book, Secret Games. While the discussion is specific to Johnny’s own traumatic memories, it serves as a springboard from which viewers might consider childhood context and the ways that it continues to shape our daily experiences.

Clip 5: Memory (00:13:11-00:18:11, length: 5:00 minutes)

The clip begins with a panorama of a mountain horizon and Delbert, as a child, explaining his intimate relationship with the land. The clip closes with a series of his early photographs, the last being of a child underneath a slide and adult Delbert explaining how learning photography as a child taught him a meaning of life and a way of expressing his connection to home and community.

Throughout the clip, Delbert recalls his journey to North Carolina to work at a chicken factory and his eventual decision to return to his family place following the death of his parents. In order to reconstruct his family, he hangs photographs of them on the unfinished walls of his house. Delbert uses photography and traditional music to reconnect with his community.

This clip engages viewers in a conversation about the powerful hold of childhood memories. The clip concludes with Delbert saying that “pictures, to me, helps you hold onto your memories...being able to pull back the good memories and let go the bad ones.”

Clip 6: Community/Family (00:33:00-00:33:31, length: 0:31 minutes)

This brief clip begins with a self-portrait that Gary Crase made during his sixth grade year at Campbell’s Branch Elementary School, along with a series of photographs that he made of his community.

As the community portraits are shown, a brief audio recording from young Gary explaining his ideas about community plays: “Most people that live together all believe in one general idea like a paragraph in a book. A community, you might say that’s the same thing. Maybe one believes that 2 and 2 is 3 and the other believes that 2 and 2 is 4, but they both believe that 2 and 2 is.”