DVD: A Singing Stream: A Black Family Chronicle | Jack & the Dentist’s Daughter

Description

A Singing Stream: A Black Family Chronicle

A Singing Stream is the story of a gifted African American family from the rural South. With interviews and stories, and scenes from daily life, reunions, gospel concerts, and church services, the film traces the history of the Landis family of Granville County, North Carolina, over the lifetime of its oldest surviving member, 86-year-old Mrs. Bertha M. Landis.

A Singing Stream is more than just a testament to one family’s contributions to Granville County. By tracing the Landis family as they span generations and geography, viewers are treated to an homage to the power of the homeplace, particularly for African American families in the South and who left North Carolina during the Great Migration. We see how gospel music, religion, and the landscape of the Old Tobacco Belt region are all interwoven. The history of of gospel music in North Carolina is the history of the Landis family, which is the history of Granville County.

(57 min.)

Feature Presentation:

Jack & the Dentist’s Daughter (40 minutes, ages 8-adult) Directed by Tom Davenport.

A variant of the grimms’ comic story, “The Master Thief,” is set in a small 1930s American town. Jack, a poor laborer’s soon, wants to marry the dentist’s daughter, but the dentist insists that he earn money first. When clever Jack steals the money from the thugs Robin Hood-fashion, the dentist devises more premarital hurdles. Jack even kidnaps the preacher and steals the sheets off the dentist’s bed—while he’s sleeping in it. A fine example of an American Jack Tale, closely related to traditional trickster tales found worldwide.

Also featured on DVD: Making Grimm Movies (60 min.)