Asheville, NC -- Southern Circuit's presentation of Steven Ross’ films Liberia: A Fragile Peace and Fishers of Dar will be on display at the Fine Arts Theatre this Monday, March 12th at 7 pm.
Liberia: A Fragile Peace explores the civil war between the wealthy minority of former American slaves and the indigenous, rural tribes across the country. Filmmaker Ross calls it a “happy accident” that he met the graduate student who wanted to make a documentary about the Liberia situation and needed help with the filmmaking. During his first trip to Liberia, after the exit of a tyrannical Charles Taylor and the entrance of the United Nations in 2003, Ross said their experience was like classic news-journalism. He and his student colleague had only one contact in the whole country, stayed in a convent because the only hotel in Monrovia was charging $350 a night, and “filled a bag with footage.” They went back again a few years later, “I wasn’t there during the carnage,” assures Ross, “I was never fearful for my life. The people saw my camera and wanted to talk. They needed to tell the world their story.”
Steven Ross describes his film Fishers of Dar as “A sublime bit of filmmaking.” Although the film presents the issues around development in the Third World and the idea of modernizing traditional markets, Ross states, “This film doesn’t take a position towards its subject. It is Africans being productive and allowing the viewer to take an accurate look at their lives.” Rakumi Arts International writes, “Fishers of Dar is a visually lush documentary without commentary. The film takes the viewer, beginning before dawn, to the pier and the bustling central market, as hundreds of people make their living in this age-old way.” The film has screened internationally winning Best Documentary at the Athens International Film/Video Festival (2003) and Best Cinematography at the Ann Arbor Film Festival (2002).
For almost a decade, Ross has juggled the two worlds of professional cinematographer and associate film professor at the Ohio University School of Film. While the traveling was a major benefit of being a career cinematographer, Ross says that he has more chances for travel in the field of academia. Continuing in the vein of making location-specific documentaries Ross is now working on a documentary about a Viking Age archaeological dig in the Mosfell Valley outside of Reykjavik, Iceland.
Created by the South Carolina Arts Commission over thirty years ago, Southern Circuit takes independent filmmakers on a journey into communities across the South. Chosen by a panel of experts for the quality of their work, the filmmakers screen their recent films for local audiences. Produced without studio backing and struggling to secure a distributor, many of these films would never be seen on a screen in this area of the country without Southern Circuit. The program also encourages audiences to interact with the filmmakers during receptions and post-screening discussions.
Southern Circuit is a program of the Southern Arts Federation, a not-for-profit regional arts organization making a positive difference in the arts throughout the South since 1975. Southern Arts Federation is supported by funding and programming partnerships with the National Endowment for the Arts, private foundations, corporations, individuals, and the state arts agencies of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.