PRESS RELEASE
Gerald Milnes of Elkins Chosen as
2006 West Virginia Filmmaker of the Year
(Charleston, October 10th , 2006)
The Seventh Annual West Virginia Filmmakers Film Festival announced on Saturday, October 7th, the selection of Elkins filmmaker Gerald Milnes as 2006 West Virginia Filmmaker of the Year. The award is sponsored by the WV Film Office. A unique sculpture created by Landmark founder Bill Hopen was given to Mr. Milnes at the ceremony on Saturday at 8 PM. 2005 West Virginia Filmmaker of the Year B.J. Gudmundsson presented Mr. Milnes with the award.
During the last three years, Milnes completed four films - ’ÄúThat Old Time Sound,’Äù(2006) ’ÄúFiddlin’Äô Leo Herron,’Äù(2005), ’ÄúOne More Time- The Life and Music of Melvin Wine’Äù(2004), and ’ÄúMusic of Heaven’Äù(to be released). These films, on the Augusta Heritage label, were produced by Milnes within his Folk Arts Coordinator position of the Augusta Heritage Center of Davis and Elkins College. He has also co-produced and edited two films with Robert C. Whetsell - ’ÄúThe CC Boys - A West Virginia Legacy’Äù (2006) and ’ÄúThe Cliff-Scaling Soldiers of West Virginia’Äù (2004).
Steve Fesenmaier of the West Virginia Library Commission said, ’ÄúCongratulations to Mr. Milnes for his selection as the 2006 West Virginia Filmmaker of the Year.’Äù Also, ’ÄúMilnes has been called one of West Virginia’Äôs true Renaissance men. His dedication to West Virginia culture, promoting it through music, workshops, books, and most recently, films, shows that he is a living treasure in this state, just as Wine, McCumbers, and Leo Herron (his film subjects) are. He is a world-class musician and the author of several books.’Äù His books include - ’ÄúPlay of a Fiddle: Traditional Music, Dance, and Folklore in West Virginia,’Äù University Press of Kentucky (1999); ’ÄúPassing It On: an Introduction to the Folk Art and Folk Life of West Virginia,’Äù Augusta Heritage Center, 1994, ’ÄúGranny Will Your Dog Bite and Other Mountain Rhymes’Äù Alfred Knopf (1990), and ’ÄúSigns, Cures and Witchery: German Appalachian Folklore,’Äù University of Tennessee Press, (to be released, early 2007).
Milnes has consulted on many important major film projects including Mari-Lynn Evans’Äô documentary ’ÄúThe Appalachians,’Äù John Sayles ’ÄúMatewan,’Äù two BBC films, and ’ÄúEven the Heavens Weep’Äù for PBS.
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