It’s October again! After 20 years, Coalwood is still on my mind.
In October of 2005 I traveled to the small coal ming town of Coalwood, West Virginia with a group of fellow teachers from Minneapolis. We went to the October Sky Festival depicted in the Film October Sky and Rocket Boy Homer Hickam’s best selling book called Rocket Boys.
I had read the book and seen the movie, but what I didn’t expect was how much I learned from meeting the real Rocket Boys and many of the residents of this shockingly interesting town in a misunderstood part of our country.
I’d never been on a trip that affected me so much — on a knowledge and historical level, but most importantly in an emotional way that I hadn’t anticipated. On the plane ride home I began having thoughts about making a documentary film about this place and the people I’d met.
Great idea, right? But there was a problem. I didn’t know anything about filmmaking and didn’t have a video camera.
The short story is that the next summer I borrowed a camera and drove back to Coalwood with my daughter, Emily. I began interviewing some of the people I’d met in October. Over the next 3 1/2 years I made 5 more trips to Coalwood, learning a lot about shooting video, interviewing people and telling stories.
I finished Welcome to Coalwood in 2009. It has been well-received by not only Coalwood residents, but people all over Appalachia. I have been honored that West Virginia PBS has shown my film multiple times over the years. If you’re a fan of the movie October Sky I think you’ll enjoy my film about the real town that produced the Rocket Boys.
