CUT/CHOP/COOK "debuts" at Charleston Food & Wine Festival

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On March 6th, MDP & the Southern Foodways Alliance gave folks at the Charleston Food & Wine Festival a sneak peek at their latest short documentary. The film CUT/CHOP/COOK, a profile of pitmaster Rodney Scott of Scott’s Barbecue in Hemingway, South Carolina, was produced and directed by MDP’s Joe York in association with the Union Square Hospitality Group and will  officially debut at the 2010 Big Apple Barbecue Block Party in New York. We’d like to offer a very special thanks to the good folks at Jim ‘N Nicks Barbecue, who hosted the event which featured the sneak peek. Though we weren’t able to attend the event, the reviews have been amazing. Here’s a great one from Libby Wiersema of SCNow.com:

“The Pee Dee was the unexpected star of the show when the Charleston Wine + Food Festival presented the Pitmaster’s Bourbon & Q Dinner at Jim ’N Nick’s Bar-B-Q on March 6.
Sold-out themed dinners were packing dining rooms throughout the historic district and this popular eatery in the heart of King Street was no different. Guests were greeted at the door with sugar-rimmed glasses of bourbon and led to their assigned seats. In less than half-an-hour, every table and booth was brimming with fun-loving foodies. New friendships were struck and laughter abounded as the bourbon flowed and diners nibbled on pickled shrimp, boiled peanuts and pork rinds.
I was seated across from cookbook author Ted Lee, who was dispelling myths about Bobby Flay’s arrogance (apparently Flay is the “nicest, kindest” food personality on the planet, according to Lee) when the first hint that some home flavor was on the menu came parading through the dining room. The front door swung wide, and two brawny men in red T-shirts advertising Scott’s Bar-B-Que in Hemingway made their way carefully through the narrow aisles bearing a sizzling hog. All eyes were fixed upon the scene. Mouths gaped. Applause rang out. Then they disappeared into the kitchen.
About that time, platters of Jim ’N Nick’s garlicky pork hot links, pimento cheese and liver mousse with wood-grilled bread were laid before us and we dug in, the meat parade forgotten for the time-being. That was followed by trays of freshly roasted Folly River oysters, tender and sweet. All that shucking called for another round of tasty bourbon cocktails, artfully concocted by two of the evening’s guests, Greg Best of Atlanta’s Holeman and Finch Public House and Julian Van Winkle of Old Rip Van Winkle Distillery in Kentucky.
A rowdiness was pervading the atmosphere by the time the course ended. The decibel levels were stretching the limits, and conversations were being shouted. A bluegrass trio was in full swing — if there’d been room to dance, I’m sure some clogging would have accompanied. I noticed a couple of guys struggling to erect a projector screen in front of the door. They didn’t seriously think they could rein this crowd in long enough to show a film, did they? Oh yes they did. But it wasn’t until the first few frames flickered that things started to quiet down. There on the screen was one of the meat bearers from Hemingway. His name is a familiar one in the Pee Dee — Rodney Scott — and the film was a documentary tribute to the way he does business.
I am not kidding when I say that there was perfect silence in that dining room as we witnessed what I can only describe as Scott’s amazing labor of love. As we watched him harvest wood with a chainsaw, stoke fires and flip hogs on his custom cookers, there was a palpable sense of awe developing amongst us. When Scott applied sauce to the hog using a kitchen mop, the entire audience erupted into mad applause. They were tickled by the down-home testimonials of local Scott’s Bar-B-Que patrons. Scott, who was watching from a corner with us, laughed as well, clearly caught up in the building enthusiasm of his newest fan base.
The film faded to black, and as difficult as it was in the cramped space of the room, the awestruck diners leaped to their feet, roaring and shouting and applauding this Pee Dee pitmaster. Crowds of people — many of whom have never heard of the Pee Dee — moved in to shake this man’s callused hands. They hugged him, pounded his back like old friends, asked for autographs, took photographs. When I asked Scott how it felt to be the star of the show, he beamed and said, “Man, it’s unreal. I never thought I’d be here in Charleston and be part of this festival like this. I just can’t believe it.”
Minutes later, plates of Anson Mills grits topped with heaping portions of Scott’s succulent pig were served. Our empty plates seemed a fitting expression of the love we all felt that night for this local barbecue phenomenon.

Economically speaking…

The Financier’s Club and School of Business Administration here at the University of Mississippi hosted a forum to discuss the current financial crisis and it’s effects on the economy and markets.  Produced by students Mario Hillyard and Van Martin, this forum features current and  former members of our faculty.

2009 Commencement Address

2009 Commencement Address by Bob Schieffer

Here’s the 2009 Commencement Address at the University of Mississippi with CBS anchor Bob Schieffer. Mr. Schieffer is introduced by Ole Miss Chancellor Robert Khayat.

In a flash…

Recently we cleaned and transferred an old 16mm “Castle Films” news reel featuring the game-story of our heart-stopping 1959 football game with LSU.  During the transfer process I realized that one of the frames of film actually caught the moment in which Billy Cannon had his famous snapshot taken.  As you can see, that’s a lot of light in that fraction of a second when the bulb explodes.  What a moment for both schools.  It was the lone defeat for the Ole Miss Rebels that year, and on top of that, it was one of only three touchdowns allowed ALL SEASON by the grid-iron Rebs.  The 1959 Ole Miss Rebels were one of the best teams ever fielded anywhere, as was evidenced later in that same season when they were rematched with Cannon and his Bayou Bengals in the 1960 Sugar Bowl.  The Rebels came out on top that day, taking a 21 to 0 victory and holding the Heisman-winning Cannon to just 8 yards rushing.

Click below on the image to see full resolution.

theshotlsu

Honoring Chucky Mullins…

 

Always a moving event, this year’s Chucky Mullins Courage Award Banquet marked 20 years since the inception of the award. Chucky Mullins will forever impact this University, and all of us at the Media and Documentary Projects Center are honored to work on the event. This year, we produced video elements that played throughout the night, featuring remembrances from friends of Chucky’s, as well as former winners of the award and members of the current coaching staff at Ole Miss. Thanks to Chuck Smith, executive producer of “Undefeated: The Chucky Mullins Story” who allowed us to use excerpts from the documentary throughout the program. We also put together highlights of the three outstanding nominees for this year’s award, as well as a highlight reel of former winners of the award. Student Noah Bunn was our lighting choreographer, and he brought a beautiful color scheme to the evening, transforming the Indoor Practice Facility into a showcase-type setting. Good job, Noah, and thanks! We have to also thank Hunter Palmer for pulling grip duty all day and Matthew Graves for coordinating the live show and manning the camera! Also, thanks to our leader Andy Harper, who worked on his birthday to help us get set up for the night. All in all, it was a great team effort and a great night!

Micah Ginn

"Hit the (five minute) showers!!"

 

As part of last week’s Green Week here at Ole Miss, we worked up a special commercial to run at the Sunday afternoon baseball game.  Assistant A.D. Jamil Northcutt came up with the hard-charging “Skipper Green” as the green-awareness coach for the Ole Miss Athletics Offices.  As you can see from the commercial, Skipper Green has an aggressive method for message delivery.

The production spanned Thursday afternoon and all day Friday for shooting and editing.  Student-workers Alyssa Manhold and Hunter Palmer pitched in on the shoot and we couldn’t have done it without them.  Matthew Graves was, as always,  keeping the whole thing together through a frantically-paced shoot.  

Thanks to Jamil Northcutt, Pete Boone, and everyone in athletics who took time out of their day to help spread the word on Green Week.  We had a lot of fun making the spot.

Micah Ginn

Planning for the Chucky Mullins Courage Award

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Today I met with several of the organizing members of the Chucky Mullins Courage Award banquet.  The event, April the 16th, will be the 20th such banquet, a number that just doesn’t seem possible.  Was it really two decades ago when we were all brought to awareness of this fantastic human being?  Was it really two decades ago that we learned the definition of bravery, of determination, of the unbreakable human spirit?  Indeed, it has been twenty years ago this fall when the number 38 became a legend and touched not only this University, but the nation.  It is an extreme honor for me to work on this banquet and plan for the 20th year of the Courage Award.  There is no greater honor for an Ole Miss football player than to earn the number 38.  We will be collecting memories of Chucky for the banquet to be played on the big screen throughout the evening.  If you are a former teammate, coach, friend or fan that was touched by Chucky, give us a call or email us.  We’d love to hear from you.

Micah Ginn

915-3475

email:  micah@olemiss.edu

General Colin Powell Press Conference


Former Secretary of State and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Colin Powell, answers questions from the press prior to a speaking engagement at the University of Mississippi’s Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College Spring Convocation. Produced by Joe York

Producer Joe York films General Powell.Producer Joe York films General Powell.
Producer Joe York films General Powell.

Getting the word out…


We reworked our promo for the 2009 Oxford Film Fest so as to feature a few more clips from the 95 films that will be playing during the 4 day event. We’re still only able to give you a brief glimpse in the :30 spot, so you’ll have to come to the festival and see for yourself. It is a great line up of films.

UMedia is a proud sponsor/supporter of the festival, using it as an opportunity to bring University students into the mix. This year, we’ll be using students to produce on-screen materials for the festival, as well as “imbedding” some of our documentary-minded students with cameras to capture the sights, sounds, and celebrities on video. It’s a great opportunity for our students as it exposes them to an exciting industry and some incredibly talented filmmakers.