UnionAn American Story
“We never look at just one thing; we are always looking at the relation between things and ourselves.”
— John Berger
More on this project coming soon!
The Vision
​
A film like Union cannot be pre-determined. A script cannot be written ahead of time. And pretty pictures alone are not the priority.
The film team intends to discover a story from immersive living and looking in those places—from what strikes the eye and ear in situ. We will capture those moments and their echoes against what is known and not known — reflected against both contemporary and historical mirrors.
It is a search for wonder amid the mundane. A search for that sense of the art of living and making in rural America.
​
​
Images from the WPA project: Courtesy of the Library of Congress.
The Film
Union is a feature-length documentary film from Producer / Director Paul Lewis that engages its audience on issues of historic and contemporary American mythology, personal and cultural identity, and racial and social injustice.
Combining ‘direct film’ techniques and archival research, the film uncovers and retells stories captured from a journey between two independent and diverse communities: Union, West Virginia (93% white Pop.) and Union, Alabama (94% black pop.), and points of interest along the way.
Through interviews with farmers, artists, activists and local leaders, Union sets out to cinematically string these communities and identities together, while engaging the audience in direct and impactful conversation.
Past and present are woven together into an impression that provokes a dialog about our national identity.