University of Kentucky Writing Program Film Series

We are pleased to announce that filmmaker Anne Lewis will be here to screen recently digitally remastered versions of "Fast Food Women" (1991) and "On Our Own Land" (1988).

The following descriptions come from Appalshop.org

"Fast Food Women"

Fast Food Women takes an inside look at the lives of the women who fry chicken, make pizzas, and flip burgers at four different fast food restaurants in eastern Kentucky. These women, mostly middle-aged and raising children, are often the sole income source for their families. They work for wages barely above the minimum wage, have trouble getting full-time hours because of their employers’ scheduling policies, and are without health care and other benefits.

Analysis by Barbara Garson (author of The Electronic Sweatshop) of the way fast food jobs systematically dehumanize and devalue the worker is intercut with comments from human resources managers at the Druther’s chain. Scenes of women at work round out this incisive, sometimes troubling look at life on the other side of the counter.

"On Our Own Land"

In the Appalachian coalfields, broadform deeds were used, beginning around 1900, to sever the ownership of mineral rights from the ownership of the surface land. Although surface mining was virtually unheard of at the time most of these deeds were signed, Kentucky courts ruled years later that the owners of such deeds could strip mine the land without the consent of the surface owners. On Our Own Land chronicles the citizens’ fight to have the broadform deed declared unconstitutional in Kentucky. The story unfolds through the voices of local people as the viewer meets a family determined not to move their father’s grave for strip miners, sees the rubble of a strip job "reclaimed" to the letter of the law, and watches as citizens protest strip mine abuses and push the state legislature for reform.

This powerful program is recommended for discussion of effective citizens’ movements and grassroots political organizing, the environmental and economic "tradeoffs" associated with coalmining and industrial development, and the difference that sometimes exists between justice and the law.

About the Writing Program Film Series:

The Writing Program Film Series aims to bring students into contact with important documentary films as wells as the directors, screenwriters, or other important individuals behind the films. Often, these films have local connections, focusing on issues pertinent to Kentucky and Appalachia. Each year, the film series brings numerous films and guests to campus to enhance first-year writing courses by stimulating discussion between students and film directors about provocative and pertinent issues, many of which are often pushed to the periphery of the university's attention.

The film series is made possible by the support of the Writing Program and a grant from Bedford/St. Martin's.