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Encore Presentation of Moonshine History Film!
April 28, 2022 @ 7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
As a result of the enthusiastic response to last year’s world premieres, the Center for Cultural Presentation is proud to announce an encore presentation of its new moonshine history film is scheduled for local screening on Thursday, April 28 at 7:30 PM as a virtual event. The program will include a discussion and Q&A by the director and a local moonshiner. The film, The Spirits Still Move Them by award-winning director David Weintraub is one of the first to document the true history of Southern Appalachian moonshining history, leaving the myths and fabrications in the dust while telling a story about moonshine history that’s never been relayed before.
According to Weintraub, “The myth that all moonshiners are violent, lazy, drunk criminals hiding in the woods wearing long beards and longer arrest records has been recounted by the media for over 100 years. In reality, liquor production was hard, backbreaking work that only the most entrepreneurial farmers conducted which they did in order to survive difficult circumstances and put food on the table. It’s a fascinating story and far more interesting than the myths and distortions we’ve heard.”
The film digs deep into Southern Appalachian history exposing the stereotypes and fabrications about mountaineers that have been fodder for movies and cable television programs for generations from the Beverly Hillbillies to the Moonshiner Show. Says Cody Bradford, fifth generation moonshiner and owner of Howling Moon Distillery in Asheville, “People think all moonshiners were outlaws but it was the federal government that enacted an excise tax after the Civil War that poor farmers had to bear. It was either starve or make liquor and it’s not difficult to understand which one they chose.”
The Spirits Still Move Them will have its encore screening on Thursday April 28 at 7:30 PM. Tickets can be purchased in advance on the Center for Cultural Preservation’s website SaveCulture.org. Advance registrants also get a special DVD offer which provides them with a substantial discount on the DVD price, a $10 value.
This film is made possible by Blue Ridge National Heritage Area Partnership, the Community Foundation of Henderson County and North Carolina Humanities. The Center for Cultural Preservation is a cultural nonprofit organization dedicated to working for mountain heritage continuity through oral history, documentary film, education and public programs. For more information about the Center contact them at (828) 692-8062 or www.saveculture.org
