[curious guitar music] [film projector clicking] - (male announcer) Every day in the Midsouth, videographers, writers, and artists of all kinds are hard at work.

And each fall, the Indie Memphis Film Festival brings them together along with fi lms from around the world.

In the next hour, we'll show you some of our favorite hometowner short films and music videos from recent Indie Memphis screenings and introduce you to their creators.

[curious music continues] Grab a seat, this is your VIP pass to Indie TV Local Short Films from Indie Memphis on WKNO.

[upbeat music continues] - I really like Indie Memphis.

I support Indie Memphis.

It's a great film festival and obviously it has grown.

Every year it's gotten bigger.

- When I can go to the festival and I can sit with the cast and the crew and we can all enjoy it on the big screen, like the fruits of our labor, that is an incredibly meaningful feeling that kind of completes the circle on the whole project.

- You're only watching it like so big for so long.

That like, when they blow this up to be on a big screen, like in the festival, is it still gonna look good?

- We had a bunch of our friends and the people that were in the video, they all came out.

We had a little block of folks over here, but there was a bunch of other people that had never seen the video.

- If it wasn't for the opportunities that Indie Memphis gave me, I don't think I would still be making films.

[upbeat music continues] [film projector clicking] [birds chirping] [phone chimes] [text message whooshes] [plane engine roaring in distance] [plane engine roaring] [children chattering] [phone chimes] [text message whooshes] [child giggling in distance] [child chattering in distance] [text message whooshes] [text message whooshes] [text message whooshes] [child giggling] [suitcase wheels rumbling] - It's time to go.

If you don't wanna take me, I understand.

I just need to know.

- Just give me five minutes.

[suitcase wheels rumbling] [discordant piano music] Asher, stop.

[discordant piano music continues] Asher!

Asher, stop, stop.

Hey, please, please.

[doorbell rings] - Hey.

Go find your cousins.

Ryan says that it's not going to be that bad really.

- Ryan doesn't have a clue what he's talking about.

- Hey.

I just don't think that they would do all of this unless they had a really good plan.

I mean, obviously you're just-- - Can we just not, please?

- I'm just saying.

- Seriously.

[children chattering in distance] What?

What?

- Nothing.

[discordant piano music] [text message whooshes] [discordant piano music continues] [discordant piano music fades] [phone chimes] [text message whooshes] [airplane engine roaring] I thought you quit.

- I did.

- Low down payments.

[cork pops] 33,000 mile limited powertrain warranty.

That's your fresh start to a better life.

American Contract.

[phone chiming] A better way forward.

- This is an ABC News Special Report.

Now reporting David Muir.

- Shit.

- We are coming on the air at this hour with breaking news.

- Shit, shit, shit.

- And it's difficult.

[discordant piano music] [phone chiming rapidly] The latest details in the bomb attack outside the airport in Kabul.

We have just learned from the Pentagon, this is their statement.

We can confirm that a number of US service members were killed at the Kabul Airport.

A number of others are being treated for wounds.

A number of Afghans fell victim to this heinous attack.

You're looking at the very difficult pictures coming in from the scene.

We must warn you, many of these images are graphic.

A suspected suicide bomber detonating near the Abbey Gate at the airport.

That's one of the main entrances of the airport.

Again, the Pentagon just moments ago reporting a number of US Service members were killed.

[discordant piano music continues] Afghan people desperate to get out of the country.

Again, calling this a complex attack just five days before the US deadline to withdraw from Afghanistan.

[discordant piano music fades] [phone chiming rapidly] [discordant piano music] [text messages whooshing rapidly] [phone ringing] [discordant piano music] [birds chirping] [phone chimes] - I have a friend who is a pilot here in Memphis, but he's also a part of the Air National Guard and he volunteered to go to Afghanistan and fly troops and refugees, you know, on various legs of the withdrawal effort that was happening in Afghanistan in 2021.

And it became clear to me that it might be a very high stakes, interesting way to explore fear, anxiety, our relationships with our devices, our relationships to the news when those things hold life and death information for someone who has a loved one that's in the middle of an event that might be happening, you know, where she has to interact with those devices and with the news and get her information about what's happening from that.

[film projector clicking] [folk country music] ♪ Well, I ain't seen stars in a million moons ♪ ♪ 'Cause of that light pollution ♪ ♪ If they think of a solution ♪ ♪ I hope they let us know ♪ ♪ So I drive out to that further place ♪ ♪ Where there are no interruptions ♪ ♪ Just me alone ♪ ♪ Just me beneath ♪ ♪ An old familiar glow ♪ ♪ Can't see stars ♪ ♪ Can't see stars ♪ ♪ Can't see stars ♪ ♪ Can't see stars ♪ ♪ And a man-made light fills up the street ♪ ♪ From sills of every window ♪ ♪ So we might take for granted now ♪ ♪ The miracle of day ♪ ♪ Ain't that human nature ♪ ♪ Just to marvel in its power ♪ ♪ Just because it can ♪ ♪ Don't mean it ought to be that way ♪ ♪ Can't see stars ♪ ♪ Can't see stars ♪ ♪ Can't see stars ♪ ♪ Can't see stars ♪ [folk country music continues] ♪ I spoke until I drew in near ♪ ♪ A thousand other voices ♪ ♪ But among the murmuration found ♪ ♪ I could not hear my own ♪ ♪ Funny, you would think it would be ♪ ♪ Cause for celebration ♪ ♪ Lately, though, I'm finding I prefer to be alone ♪ ♪ Can't see stars ♪ ♪ Can't see stars ♪ ♪ Can't see stars ♪ ♪ Can't see stars ♪ ♪ Can't see stars ♪ ♪ Can't see stars ♪ ♪ Can't see stars ♪ ♪ Can't see stars ♪♪ [folk country music continues] - I've used the 60 millimeter camera in the past, but I bought a new one for this off some guy from Russia and he DHL'ed it to me and I had never, never used it before I shot this.

And I like prefaced them like, "Hey, just so you know, "when shooting on film, "there's no guarantee it's gonna turn out "the way we shot it "or turn out at all since I'm not the one developing it.

I have to send it out."

And when I first got the film sent back, it actually looked terrible and I had to ask him to like re-scan it with a few settings and that like 24 hours when I first got the film back and like put a rush in on getting another scan, my heart like sank 'cause it was like, how do I tell these two musicians I screwed up their music video?

Like, [laughs] it looks terrible.

But they scanned it, sent it back, and then I just had like all this film to work with and it was, to me, it turned out great.

[film projector clicking] - When Minnie drowned in the river, no one was surprised.

[somber piano music] Her body blended right into that muddy water.

Her mama warned her about water that brown.

Told her, "Come in my house covered in that dirt and I'll beat you dead."

Maybe the river heard her.

Maybe the river knew that Minnie was gonna get beat dead if she returned home.

So it beat her gently instead.

Maybe it tried to teach her to swim.

Told her, "Go ahead and stretch them arms.

"You gotta keep moving.

"Now them legs need to be swinging.

Come on, now.

Swing 'em."

Minnie tried the best way that she could, I'm sure of it.

But river gonna be river.

Lungs ain't smart enough to know the difference between the air and water, so you have to.

And Minnie was far too young in the head for that.

When John John found her, he nearly missed her.

Now John John always be lying to the neighborhood kids, but this time his eyes were screaming, his throat was red.

Wouldn't have been surprised if it started bleeding, drowning just like Minnie.

So the neighborhood kids believed John John.

Told him, "Slow down.

Can't nobody understand you."

Tried their hardest to understand him, I'm sure, even when baby cheeks were flopping as he talked.

He bent over, sat down on the hot concrete, tried to claw Minnie out of the river, but river stay river.

Reminding himself that river doesn't follow you home, that he knew air from water, that he wasn't that young in the head anymore.

The boy, beastly and heavy-handed, wanted to beat the air into his body, wanted his body to act like body, to be man, to live some more.

John John, gagging on the memory of river soaked dresses, told them what he saw.

[somber piano music continues] Then everything got quiet.

Stayed still was river, was river.

Nothing but river and something else.

Almost like she was flying, Minnie bobbed up and down the currents mistaking water for air, familiarity for safety.

Her skin like water, shuttered under the rejection of heat, under the guise of river ever providing her warmth.

Now John John ain't never in his life stuttered, but when throat burns, when river water finds its way around, when the mind forgets water from air, he screams, "She dead!

"Min got herself killt.

"I seen her in the river.

Cold, she cold."

Verna said no.

Verna always said no.

Burning like she was devil herself.

She knew of rivers.

Survived the currents with bloody knuckles and missing teeth left scars of her snaggle tooth smile on the hands of mud waters trying to drown her over and over again and again.

She was a quiet hero, saving herself from the whispers of ripples on her bedside from the pool of ways on her wrist, from the weight of suffocating bodies made of the same dusty road she was.

Her dress was always ripped up to her thigh, tatted in effigy, dripping with water damage.

Some adult says she ain't never grown up in her head.

Others said she ain't never been not grown.

Arriving in a deep breath of dust and grease, the sun sat down and watched Minnie's mama's skin meet the sunset and her jaw dropped.

Her eyes burned, her throat closed.

Her mind flooded with the memories of her own river plight.

Another failed attempt to keep a baby safe.

Another again and again.

Another touched too intimately by water that brown.

She told her about water that brown would beat her dead before any current slipped through her child's skin.

Baby soft.

(whispered) Baby soft.

Baby soft.

Baby still be soft.

(whisperd) Still be soft.

She ran right outta her house shoes as the boy explained to Minnie's daddy that John John caught her body mistaking water for air.

And then he was running and then the neighborhood kids were running and then the neighborhood was running.

Yet some of our feet moved not an inch, having no desire of ever meeting river again.

We wish for Minnie to emerge fully drenched from around the corner with snot dripping down her lips while her hair puffed out like a flower in bloom.

Still be flower in bloom, even if she was a river flower, alive and untouched still, we knew wishing never got anything done.

So we watched her mama chicken bubble and burn or her iron skillet.

And for a moment, the grease sounded like river talking, river splashing, making a mockery out of our safety.

We kept our breathing slow and quiet, making sure that everyone got enough of this air even if it meant we didn't get enough for ourselves just to remind each other that we, we survived.

Our bodies kept breathing through current covering our mouths, through current bubbling our screams, through current burning our throats.

The feel of what calls the river home greeted our thighs again.

A phantom pain.

A memory of an old friend.

An echo.

The single surviving photo after a house fire that they used river water to put out.

And we whispered, for we knew the plight of river, for we were soon to be women folk.

And the only way to be soon to be women folk was to outlast river, to be old in the head, to know water from air.

The chicken was done.

But by the time Minnie's folks would get home, it'll be cold, like her body.

They marched like they were trying to drown the sounds of river, but river stay river when river keep talking and river might have been stomping along with them.

Her body was stiff, suspended as if waiting for river to release her strings.

Her eyes were still open.

White as death with skin similar to an oil painting.

It was running from her bones.

Her mama had evil in her throat.

Howling into heaven to Minnie, cursing God and the devil and all the men's nose who hooked the same, who's voices dipped the same, who caved in her baby's stomach the way that they did her.

A strange unbirthing the baby.

Too trusting even of the wasp who sought to sting her.

Her daddy replaced his mind with riverbank.

Why else would he hush a girl that makes no sound?

He wanted to recognize no one who sounds like river, who smelled like river, who was river.

No river.

Stay ignorant of where riverbanks move.

Instead, he raked his memories of pretty flowers to lift his girl just to hear her scream again.

Again and again they shifted the dust underneath their feet and again and again they saw their baby river touched, flowerless, dead, dead, dead.

And all the soon to be womenfolk knew death never left us quietly.

Where every step they took, we heard the water cresting in her lungs.

Remembering how it left ours bleeding.

Finally, our feet felt the spirit swiftly carrying us home on the wind ahead of the smell of mud water that clung to Minnie's body.

But the sound, the sound of her body trying, her body dying, our body surviving, my body fighting, like that day when my body was left to dry under the afternoon sun, sunburnt and river touched.

There was no processional, no parade of grace, sorrow, no performance of protection.

No pallbearers for the ones that the river decided to spit out, to save for later.

Coming back for more and more again and again, riverbank stalked me home.

[somber piano music continues] River being as rude as ever.

Never asking to be invited in.

But river ain't supposed to follow you home.

Can't ignore river.

Can't wish for river to leave you be 'cause river gonna stay and river gonna persist 'cause throat gonna burn, river water gonna find its way around and mine gon' forget water from air.

I learned my place quick en ough to out swim the streams.

I survived.

River is not supposed to be welcomed in my home and my eyes and my skin and my throat, that same hellish burning, that divine damnation, that godly fall from grace.

Lucifer's fall reenacted on my baby's skin and I felt him hit the pits of hell.

Face riddled with pain and betrayal as he stared into the eyes of his father.

Discarded and disgusted and damned, Lucifer was a victim of river.

Was me.

Not dead.

Bruised and broken, but not dead.

Only damned, damned, damned to forever be by the riverbank.

Still at my dinner table, I saw mud water in my mama's eyes.

Her skin ran from her bones.

Devil made home in her throat too.

[somber piano music continues] We didn't dine with strangers.

We knew even thine intruders.

We knew our rivers very well.

And when we pray, river slips on our fingertips.

And I thought of Minnie's parents doing the same.

And knowing whose Minnie's river is maybe even had river's hands on theirs offering, comfort, a saint smile, mistaking familiarity for safety over and over again and again under the ears of my daddy.

Mama and I whispered about where river will go now.

What shape river will shift into.

Who's river-soaked trousers will be found upstream with the bodies.

He hushed us.

Said, "River stay where he be."

But my Mama looked at me.

It was slithered right on her tongue when he kissed her.

It will stay.

River marry.

River bear children.

Hushes them.

"Shh," river said.

River stay where he be.

[water splashing] - Even though my grandmother died when I was really, really young, she left me and my sister's three amazing great aunts, like her sisters.

They have always had ways of telling their stories.

My aunts feel like griots in a way.

And I think that's something that I also want to bring to my filmmaking of telling a story in a way that is direct, but direct to people who have the necessary understanding of it, if that makes sense.

I am a product of the Indie Memphis Youth Film Festival.

And then I was able to, you know, graduate into the Adult Film Festival.

And if it wasn't for my mentors and if it wasn't for the opportunities that Indie Memphis gave me of just, one, being able to not only go to their festival but win their festival two years in a row, and then also being able to get production packages and grants and connections with older or more mature filmmakers in Memphis, I don't think I would still be making films and I have to send a special shout out to Amanda Willoughby who is my mentor and who is also a contract worker at Indie Memphis and very involved in the Indie Memphis Youth Film Festival.

If it was not for her submitting my first film into the festival, without my knowledge, I would not be making films today.

And so I'm very, very appreciative of the Indie Memphis film system and I feel like everybody should support them.

What's better than watching films made in your hometown by people who are like you?

So, yeah.

[film projector clicking] [upbeat soulful music] - Mane, what they don't know is this city was built on diversity Ya hear me.

I mean, we got this color, that color you know what I'm saying, ths group, that group.

Man, when we come together though, mane, that diversity creates something massive.

Memphis, let's show 'em how we do it.

♪ Memphis, fire up the melting pot ♪ ♪ Stir it up and see just what we've got ♪ ♪ What we've got is another chance ♪ ♪ To learn from our mistakes ♪ ♪ And try to make a stand ♪ ♪ Jammed together in a mixed-up nation ♪ ♪ Here we are ♪ ♪ Let's make the best of this situation ♪ ♪ There is power in our differences ♪ ♪ So maybe we can use it to further our existences ♪ ♪ Sink or swim, we're all in this together ♪ ♪ And there'll be times ♪ ♪ When it's more than we can weather ♪ ♪ With communication, respect, and harmony, yeah ♪ ♪ Here's to diversity ♪ ♪ D-Up Here's to diversity ♪ ♪ D-Up, D-Up ♪ ♪ Here's to diversity, yeah ♪ ♪ D-Up, yeah ♪ ♪ D-Up Here's to diversity, yeah ♪ ♪ D-Up ♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ D-Up ♪ ♪ D-Up, my sisters and brothers ♪ ♪ Let's put those bad things aside ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ The past will never be gone ♪ ♪ But I know that it's time ♪ ♪ To move on, move on ♪ ♪ To move on, to move on ♪ ♪ The difference somehow ♪ ♪ I hope that we all know, yeah ♪ ♪ Hey, the choice is yours right now ♪ ♪ To self-destruct or grow ♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ Sink or swim ♪ ♪ We're all in this together ♪ ♪ Together ♪ ♪ And there'll be times ♪ ♪ When it's more than we can weather ♪ ♪ With communication, respect, and harmony ♪ ♪ Here's to diversity ♪ ♪ D-Up ♪ ♪ Here's to diversity ♪ ♪ D-Up, D-Up ♪ ♪ Here's to diversity ♪ ♪ Here's to diversity, yeah ♪ ♪ D-Up ♪ ♪ Here's to diversity ♪ ♪ D-Up, D-Up ♪ [upbeat soulful music continues] ♪ Let me get right to the real ♪ ♪ You know who it is ♪ ♪ This is the life that I live ♪ ♪ Proud of my culture but still ♪ ♪ Embrace the rest ♪ ♪ Long as they keepin' it real ♪ ♪ Building new bonds and new bridges ♪ ♪ So much in common ♪ ♪ Listen & learning to chill ♪ ♪ See through the eyes of another ♪ ♪ Good times and pain ♪ ♪ Empathize if you can feel ♪ ♪ If you embrace ♪ ♪ Nothing but love, ain't no hate ♪ ♪ Nothing but love, that's the way ♪ ♪ Many have paid with they life ♪ ♪ Ain't none of it right ♪ ♪ Ya memory live to this day ♪ ♪ Where there's a will there's a way ♪ ♪ Where there's a will there's a way ♪ ♪ Gotta keep paving the way ♪ ♪ Gotta keep paving the way ♪ ♪ And if you hear this and hate ♪ ♪ That's just the price that I'm willing to pay ♪ ♪ For Diversity ♪ ♪ Don't turn your back on reality ♪ ♪ You gotta know about the past ♪ ♪ Achieve equality and make it last ♪ ♪ How we're gonna do it is anybody's guess ♪ ♪ Go ahead and fire it up ♪ ♪ A spark in all this darkness ♪ ♪ It's easy not to think about it ♪ ♪ But it's gonna come around ♪ ♪ Still affecting us right now ♪ ♪ The damage is done, a long way to go ♪ ♪ Move on to the positive ♪ ♪ Flying dove and crow ♪ ♪ Sink or swim ♪ ♪ We're all in this together ♪ ♪ And there'll be times ♪ ♪ Where it's more than we can weather ♪ ♪ With communication, respect, and harmony ♪ ♪ Here's to diversity ♪ ♪ Here's to diversity ♪ ♪ D-Up ♪ ♪ Here's to diversity ♪ ♪ Here's to diversity ♪ ♪ D-Up ♪ ♪ Here's to diversity ♪ ♪ Here's to diversity, yeah ♪ ♪ D-Up ♪ ♪ Here's to diversity ♪ ♪ Here's to divers-a, divers-a, diversity ♪ ♪ We've got to have diversity ♪ ♪ So D-Up ♪ ♪ We've got to help one another ♪ ♪ Here's to diversity ♪ ♪ D-Up, D-Up ♪ ♪ Here's to diversity ♪ ♪ D-Up, D-Up ♪ ♪ Here's to diversity ♪ ♪ D-Up ♪♪ - David Skypeck, our drummer emeritus, he wrote the words of the song probably back in '98 or so.

A combined influence of both his concept of diversity and also D-Up is a phrase that came from Larry Finch.

He used to, as he would coached university, he'd run up and down going, "D-Up, D-Up!

Defense.

Come on, defense!"

And so the combination of the shout out D-Up and connecting it to diversity was David Skypeck's idea.

I was singing that song on stage at Rum Boogie and as I was singing it was like I'd never heard the lyrics to our own song.

You know, as I'm singing these lyrics, well this is, this is perfect for what's going on right now.

It was ahead of its time.

You know, maybe we should go back in the studio and rerecord it.

Maybe we should go back in the studio and rerecord it like a Memphis "We are the World", and I can get like everybody that I know in town to be involved in.

It can be, you know, it can be this whole big thing.

Meanwhile, I'm playing on stage.

This is all going through my head off in this other realm of, "What about this, what about that?"

And so I percolated it in my brain for a few weeks and then I knew I needed a producer to make it work.

I couldn't have done all that myself.

And I also knew that I wanted to take the saxophone solo in the middle of the song and insert a hip hop segment into it.

And I'm not really that connected to that community myself, but I knew that Niko Lyras and his studio Cotton Row did a lot of that work and he's an amazing producer and engineer.

And, of course he, as a studio guy, wasn't doing that much around that time either because of the pandemic.

And so I approached him with the project and he bought in, you know, a hundred percent.

[film projector clicking] [pipe organ music] - Jesus is Lord.

He tells us that women cannot be leaders.

- We can do anything men can do!

- We must follow the scriptures.

- Now, now, you two.

Let's settle down.

- The Bible says women are to be submissive to men.

- We live in modern times.

Women are equal to men.

- The Bible says no.

- God and I say yes.

- Amen.

- I'm Susan Black and I'm so honored to be interviewed for the church's centennial history video.

I was on the Search Committee back in 1975 that called the first woman minister to Gray Lake Presbyterian Church.

The Search Committee was comprised of Joe Hope, Teddy Garland, John Galloway.

Oh, he was such a sweet young man.

Oh, he had such a crush on me.

It was a little embarrassing.

And of course there was Hank Pritchard.

He disliked me with a passion.

I did not fit into one of his pre-ordained roles for a woman at the church.

Preacher Sam would join us from time to time to give us his input.

And of course, Alice was always with us.

Poor thing.

Her parents died in a car crash and Hank was raising her.

- My name is Alice Pritchard and I tagged along with my grandfather to all the committee meetings.

My grandfather was a beloved leader at the church.

[pipe organ music] He was a sweet, sweet, gentle man.

- Friends, Jesus is Lord.

We only need to look to the holy scriptures to see women leaders.

- I know what the Bible says.

- Well then you know the stories of Queen Esther, Ruth and Naomi, Mary and Martha.

- Don't lecture me about the Bible!

- Can we please try to get along?

- Guys, we've selected the final two candidates to interview.

- And one of them is a woman!

- Can we maybe schedule them to visit on separate Saturdays if you all agree?

- Yeah.

- Let's just make sure Preacher Sam's available.

- Jack White was the first seminary student to meet with the search committee.

- Welcome, Jack.

We thought we'd take about an hour to ask some questions before we take you on a tour of the church.

- Wonderful.

[Jack sneezes] - Oh.

- God bless you.

- Excuse me.

- Well, you have a very impressive resume.

- Oh, thank you, sir.

- Tell us, what are your thoughts about the Sunday school curriculum?

- Well, I feel it's very important that youth are Bible literate.

Now, I don't mean rote memorization, but I'd like to build a Sunday school program that brings the stories of the Bible to life.

- How would you do that?

- Through music could be one way.

When I was a kid, I was in a youth choir and I always felt that the stories of the Bible were much easier to learn if they were put to music.

- Of course, Hank Pritchard made sure that the male candidate interviewed first.

[Susan laughs] What was his name?

Jake.

Jake White.

Oh my.

He was such a buffoon.

He had no business being in the ministry.

- Susan Black.

- Yes, you are.

Jake White.

- Hi.

- Good to see you, Jake.

- Oh, and yee-haw, you!

You must be the preacher.

- Well, Jake, we thought we'd ask you a few questions for about an hour before I take you on a tour of the church.

- Whoa, whoa, hold down there, cowboy.

It's gonna be me asking the questions there, all right?

Gotcha!

[Jake laughs] Did you saw his face?

Oh, woo!

I'm gonna smell that.

- Oh, bless us.

- Don't blow it over here.

- Well, what are we waiting for?

Sit on down.

I saved a seat right here for you, missy.

It's okay.

- What are your thoughts on Sunday School curriculum?

- Were you talking to me?

- Yes.

- Uh, I don't know.

Whatever, whatever it is you guys wanna do - Hmm.

- We'll do.

- What are your thoughts on our Sunday night youth program?

- Me again?

- Yes, you.

How do you envision the Sunday night youth program working?

- Well, I don't know.

I just, whatever you guys wanted.

There's a lot of you here.

I'm sure you can come up with something.

- Okay.

- I mean, look.

Do you really think it's a good idea to be meeting Sunday nights?

I mean, the kids.

They got school Monday morning.

I mean, think of 'em.

And me, I like to go to happy hour Sunday night.

I mean there is a, there is quarter beers every Sunday night.

You just can't miss that.

Lemme tell you a story.

You ever had Coors beer?

Two weeks ago I went and interviewed out in Colorado.

Interview did not...

This is gonna blow your mind.

Interview didn't go well, but lemme tell you, that Coors beer is good, real good!

You gotta try it sometime.

I can drink six of those in a minute.

I mean, Jesus died for his people.

I would die for beer.

- The whole day was like that.

He had no real answer for anything.

Well, there was one brief moment where I thought he might actually have a good idea.

- I'd like to start a Christian puppet ministry, if you will.

Alice, are you ready to meet my little puppet friend?

- Yes, sir.

- Okey-dokey.

Are you a sinner little girl?

[Alice screaming] You cannot run from Satan!

Burn, little girl, burn!

- I absolutely adored Jack's puppet ministry idea.

- What should we do today?

- We can buy groceries for the elderly members of the church and deliver the food to them.

- That is an excellent idea.

- The committee had such a wonderful day with Jack that he stayed late and we all enjoyed a lovely dinner together.

- Thank you so much for all your hospitality.

I really hope I've answered all of your questions.

- Jake White was not a good fit for our church or any church for that matter.

Preacher Sam wanted to end the interview early, but Jake demanded that we feed him.

- This is damn good chicken.

Damn good!

- He has a good manly appetite.

- What'd make it better, though, if we had some Coors beer here, right?

You'd liked some Coors, wouldn't you?

[Jake laughs] Mr Preacher, do you think I could get some more of his food to take back to the cemetery?

- Oh.

Do you mean seminary?

- May I get your number, sexy?

[Jake snorts] - No.

[Jake laughs] - Well no means yes, am I right?

- No, no, no.

No means no.

- More beans, Mr. Taggart?

- I think I've had all the beans I'm going to take from you.

- More for me.

Have y'all heard this little rhyme here?

I didn't make it up, but you might have heard it.

It goes, beans, beans, they're good for the heart.

- Oh, no.

- The more you eat, the more you fart!

- No, no, no.

[Jake laughing] [Jake coughs] - Woo!

So when do I start?

- My name is John Galloway.

I was 17 and a junior in high school when I served on the Search Committee.

Main thing I remember was all the yelling and arguing.

It was insane.

So I did what I usually do and I sat back and daydreamed about Josh Pickens and Tony Apple in the locker room after gym class.

- Jesus is Lord.

- I know what the Bible says!

- We live in modern times.

What does the Bible say about women?

- Women can do anything they can do.

- Now, now, you two.

Can we please settle down?

- Honestly, Jack White's visit was a blur.

I do remember his idea for a puppet ministry 'cause it reminded me of "The Sound of Music".

And like most gay boys my age, I did have a big old crush on Christopher Plummer.

"Oh Captain, my captain."

- Hello there.

Would you mind helping me take some groceries to the elderly members of the church?

- Jack would've probably made a good youth minister.

But the next weekend, the other candidate, Mary Simon, visited and she brought her husband along.

Spring of my senior year, her husband and several of us guys went streaking.

Best church retreat ever.

- I prayed for guidance and strength and then I alone led the struggle to convince the search committee and the congregation that Mary Simon was the perfect choice for our church.

[pipe organ music] - I remember Grandfather liked Jack, but he was so impressed with Mary Simon.

He thought she would be a good role model for me and the other girls at the church.

So he prayed for guidance and then Grandfather single-handedly convinced the congregation to hire Mary.

- My name is Sarah Garland Clark.

My father was Teddy Garland.

He chaired the Search Committee in 1975.

I found his journal and I thought it might give some insight into just how Mary Simon was hired.

- Jesus is Lord.

- Women can do anything men can do!

- Shut up and sit down.

- I've decided we're gonna hire Mary Simon.

- I'm not sure that- - Quiet, padre.

I run this church.

Hey, what are you smiling about?

- Sir?

- Get girls off the brain and pay attention.

We're gonna hire Mary Simon.

Is that understood?

- Yes.

- What is that?

- Yes, sir!

- That's more like it, now get outta here, scram!

Not you, padre.

I want to talk about Sunday's sermon.

- Oh, I have your notes.

I'm almost finished.

- Who loves you, baby?

- Mary Simon was a wonderful youth minister and she made a big impression on me.

But you know, someone else at the church who had a big influence on me was Susan Black.

[Alice chuckles] Oh, I know she could be a bit of a goof at times, but she was a big supporter of equal rights and human rights and women's rights back when I was growing up.

I mean, she always was telling me and the other girls at church that we had to be smarter and work harder than the boys.

And she always encouraged us to aim high, break as many glass ceilings as possible.

[Alice laughs] She told us to be more like Shirley Chisholm and less like Phyllis Schlafly.

[cell phone vibrating] I'm sorry.

I apologize.

I need to take this.

Hello?

Yes, this is Governor Pritchard.

Yes, well tell the president that I will meet her at the airport and then we can go to the convention center together.

All right.

Bye.

Sorry.

Now where were we?

[pipe organ music] [pipe organ music continues] - I've had this idea for a long time.

I like the idea of when we remember things, we all have very different memories.

I mean, if you get four people together and tell you what happened last week at lunch, they're gonna have very similar remembrances, but they're gonna have a very, they're gonna have different viewpoints.

- Ugh, men.

- I really like Indie Memphis.

I support Indie Memphis.

It's a great film festival and obviously it has grown just in the last eight years, six years.

Every year it's gotten bigger.

We've had great leadership for Indie Memphis.

I have sponsored some of their grants.

Very happy to do that and help get other filmmakers the opportunity to make movies.

I have rotated off the board of Indie Memphis.

Yeah, it was time.

I mean, it was six years.

But I'm very happy.

I hope they will accept my newest film.

We'll see.

And I think it's a good relationship.

- I was asked by Fat Possum to drive down to Taylor, Mississippi right outside of Oxford and record some live music videos of Buffalo Nichols performing at a recording studio that's set up in sort of a cabin down there.

Clay Jones mixed the audio for the videos and he's a legend in his own right and it was just a blast to go down there and film over the course of an afternoon with Buffalo Nichols and Clay and the folks from Fat Possum and put together what was, in essence, some marketing material for them as they prepared to release Buffalo Nichols' record.

But what turned into some really cool kind of live music videos of Buffalo down there in Taylor performing his awesome blues music.

[film projector clicking] [bluesy guitar music] ♪ You know a pretty girl will make you do ugly things ♪ ♪ Like smoke cigarettes and buy diamond rings ♪ ♪ Yeah I know I am not a heartless man ♪ ♪ But there's some things that I hardly understand ♪ [bluesy guitar music continues] ♪ Well there's one thing you did was good for me ♪ ♪ You showed me things that I just couldn't see ♪ ♪ Made me realize I do need love ♪ ♪ Even though in the end I wasn't good enough ♪ ♪ Oh the way you hurt me showed me how to love ♪ ♪ The way you hurt me showed me ♪ ♪ How to love ♪ [bluesy guitar music continues] ♪ I sold everything I had and bought a lie ♪ ♪ There ain't a powder or a pill ♪ ♪ Could ever get my hopes this high ♪ ♪ But a life of sin ♪ ♪ It brought me to my knees ♪ ♪ Love could have been the cure ♪ ♪ But your love was a disease ♪ ♪ And the way you hurt me showed me how to love ♪ ♪ The way you hurt me showed me how to love ♪ ♪ Oh the way you hurt me showed me how to love ♪ ♪ The way you hurt me showed me ♪ ♪ How to love ♪ [bluesy guitar music continues] ♪ Well I hardly recognize you anymore ♪ ♪ It's been so many years ♪ ♪ Since you walked out of the door ♪ ♪ And now I see that you could hardly hurt a fly ♪ ♪ The way you treated me was wrong ♪ ♪ But I know the reason why ♪ ♪ 'Cause the way they hurt you showed you how to love ♪ ♪ The way they hurt you showed you how to love ♪ ♪ Oh, the way they hurt you showed you how to love ♪ ♪ The way they hurt you showed you ♪ ♪ How to love ♪♪ [bluesy guitar music continues] [film projector clicking] - (male announcer) The Indie Memphis Film Festival takes place annually in October with parties, live music, and new films from around the globe.

The 2023 Festival happens October 24th through the 29th.

Screenings and other events, including youth activities, happen all year long if you'd like to get in on the action.

[upbeat music] [acoustic guitar chords]