(upbeat music) - [Narrator] Production of Applause on WVIZ/PBS is made possible by grants from The John P. Murphy Foundation, The Kulas Foundation The Stroud Family Trust The Kelvin & Eleanor Smith Foundation.

and by Cuyahoga County residents through Cuyahoga Arts & Culture.

(dramatic music) - [David C Barnett] Hello, I'm David C Barnett.

And welcome to "Applause".

(tense music) Breaking into the film industry is no easy task.

It's a highly competitive, lucrative and crowded field.

But far from Hollywood, a film school in Lakewood Ohio, aims to help aspiring young actors, writers, and directors learn the ropes.

(tense music) The Lakewood Young Filmmakers Academy was started in 2017 by filmmaker Eric Swinderman and his wife Hortencia.

Eric is an Emmy nominated film and television producer.

The Academy is like a community center for fledgling filmmakers.

Lindsey O'Keefe has attended the school from the start.

- I basically just fell in love with it from the start like the idea of putting my thoughts, you know, on screen and just showing it in a different way really.

I really gravitated towards that.

- [David C Barnett] The Academy is housed in a three-story mixed use office building on Madison Avenue.

The program is for kids and teens ages 10 through 17.

- We are about 50 50 on boy girl, and that's really been something that we're proud of.

One of our goals is really to try to reach out to more students of color.

We're trying to expand further, you know, into other communities so that we can expose more people to this kind of program.

- [David C. Barnett]The instructors are all veterans of the film industry.

- So, We do have a lot of instructors and also guests, guest speakers, guest instructors, depending on what we may need for that day.

- Marker.

(camera shuttering) - The entire team actually has experience in like movies, professional movies outside of this.

So, it's really cool that they can bring that knowledge, and that they are so currently working outside of this camp.

(gun shooting) - [David C Barnett] The Academy offers two programs, a summer boot camp, that is a two week intensive program where students write, shoot and edit a film, and an eight week program that allows the students to dive deeper into filmmaking.

- You basically get to specialize in a certain thing you love the most for example there's a screen learning class, acting class, editing class.

I took the eight week editing course with Holly.

I actually liked it more.

'Cause the camp is more kind of a broad overview but these eight week courses really lets you dive deep into like something you're passionate about.

- My favorite part would probably be the fact that we can go through and do many different things.

We're not just stuck to, oh you can only do a writing portion or, oh you can only do a camera.

You can only camera operate or you can only do boom operations.

The fact that we can also just learn as much as we really want to, and go through everything that we can.

- [David C Barnett] All of the equipment needed to shoot, edit and produce a film is onsite.

- We have, you know, tripods and dollies and jibs, and just about everything you could need to make a movie.

We have three editing base.

So, they have access to, you know, pretty much everything they could need to make a movie.

And we definitely don't try to teach them how to make a YouTube video.

We teach them how to make a film.

- In addition to learning filmmaking techniques, students gain confidence and learn how to work with others.

- At the end of the day, I've gained confidence in my work, knowing that it's up on the screen and people like it, I've gained self-esteem.

Going into the camp, I was a shy little 12 year old who was just like, "Okay, I'm gonna do this just 'cause."

And now I'm like, "Okay, let's do this."

Where's the scripts.

Where's the talent.

Let's go.

- It helps them see what they can do, and see what they're good at.

You get to see what you like about filmmaking.

You get to see what parts you wanna do.

- [David C Barnett] After four years, the efforts of the Lakewood Young Filmmakers Academy are paying off.

Student produced films are being accepted into film festivals across the country.

In 2020, a student led film took home a first place award at the Kids International Film Festival in California, for the production of "The Other Side Of The Line".

- I was part of the writing team, actually one of the two head writers.

And then I was script supervisor on the side, and also did a little bit of directing.

We were just super excited, super in awe, and also very impressed and very proud.

- "The Other Side Of The Line" getting into a couple of other festivals, and there's still more to come because there's some that haven't made their selections yet.

And then this film, "The Retribution" got into Toronto international Women's Film Festival.

It got into the FunMill Films Festival here in Cleveland.

We've submitted to Cleveland International.

We've submitted to multiple other film festivals.

- [David C Barnett] Graduates of the Lakewood Academy are also fairing well.

Alumni, Lindsey O'Keefe was recently accepted into the New York University Tisch School Of The Arts where she'll be studying Film Production.

The Tisch School is where award-winning directors like Spike Lee, Martin Scorsese, and Oliver stone attended.

- Am hoping, you know, to make a career out of this.

You know, I don't really know what's in store.

I'm keeping an open mind, you know, being flexible.

Yeah, I'm surely hoping for the best.

- [David C Barnett] Well, not every student at the Lakewood Young Filmmakers Academy may go on to study film or get into the film business.

Every student who completes the course receives the red carpet treatment.

- We do give them a certificate for the most part.

Everybody gets one.

We also give awards to like actors to, you know just kinda what you would do at a premiere.

- We really make the kids feel like celebrities.

And I think that's the reward.

And it's not just about them feeling like they're famous.

I think when they get there it hits them of what they accomplished, and that this whole event is for them.

And they earned it and that they deserve it.

- Before I even knew this camp, I didn't think film was an option.

I didn't consider it.

- I am really hoping to make acting or filmmaking into my career.

- And whether they go on to do this as a career, I think that they'll always remember it.

But we were finding that a lot of our students are really considering this as a career, film schools, things like that.

- [David C Barnett] We now head to a museum in Michigan, using signs of segregation and racist objects to create something positive.

Ideastreams Carrie Wise, explores this more with the founder of the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia.

- [Carrie Wise] Think of an everyday object.

And David Pilgrim says you'll probably find it at the Jim Crow Museum.

An ash tray, postcards, toys, anything you would find in a kitchen, anything you would find in a rest room.

- [Carrie Wise] Thousands of such items from the past and present, fill the museum at Ferris State University, 50 miles North of Grand Rapids, Michigan.

- We have what I refer to as everyday caricature objects of African-Americans.

We also have segregation or segregation artifacts.

Things like the lights only sarant.

- [Carrie Wise] The museum's objective is to use these items to start conversations around racism, whether it's with school groups or corporate leaders.

But even as brands like Aunt Jemima leave store shelves which is expected to happen this year, the related imagery hangs on.

- I mean, we're at a time in this country When I think there is quite a bit of momentum for destroying the objects.

Our approach is different.

We believe that material objects document the past.

That they are a way to help us better understand the past.

And you know, quite frankly help us from repeating the mistakes in the past.

- [Carrie Wise] Pilgrim is an Ohio State alum, and the museum's founder and creator.

He says much of what's on view at the Jim Crow museum continues to be collected and sold.

Even if it were possible, which is not to destroy the existing objects are destroyed them as we find that does not stop the creation of new objects.

And so, a better approach is to stay take stock of where we are, forgive the cliche, and use those objects as ways to have conversations that we need to have as a nation - [Carrie Wise] Like many other museums, this facility closed due to the pandemic while still offering online tours.

And the conversations about racism continue too.

Pilgrim spoke recently with Northeast Ohioans as part of the malts museums celebration of Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. - When I was a kid, you know, 16, 17, and I read a letter from Birmingham jail, I read it like a 16 year old.

- [Carrie Wise] Pilgrim has since re-read King's letter.

And today returns to an often quoted sentence.

That statement about injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

And although our focus is primarily on African-Americans we also collect objects that defame and mock women, you know, members of LGBTQ community, poor whites, you know, Mexicans and others.

And so, one of the things I hope to talk about are ways that different groups that have been disfavored in our culture can work together.

It sounds trite, but that's a real thing for me.

- [David C Barnett] If you're interested to take a virtual trip to the museum you'll find more details at arts.ideastream.org.

- [David C Barnett] Perhaps you have some treasure in your house.

But how do you know what it's worth?

Certified antiques appraiser Barbara Eash gives us some insights into the appraisal process, along with some tips on what questions to ask an appraiser.

- I really love telling people if their things are valuable but it also important to me and to them to tell them if it's not valuable.

My name is Barbara Jane Eash, and I am a professional certified appraiser, specializing in antiques and collectibles.

When I was a little girl, I liked antiques.

I started liking older things as I grew older, and just consumed books and books and books.

But I love them.

I love to read about them and study them.

I have an immense library that I use.

I write for magazines and newspapers.

New information is surfacing all the time about some of these items.

An appraiser is a person who has earned a designation within one of the main local or regional national agencies.

Mine's with a Certified Appraisal Gale of America from Art of Missouri, they then defined if lawfully you can write appraisals.

There's a certified documents.

We have what we call category experts as appraisers, maybe one gentleman only does firearms.

Maybe, maybe another gentleman stamps, another lady of coins.

Then there's a group of people like myself are called generalists.

We weren't content with learning one thing.

I would learn, I started out on furniture and ivory, and textiles and dolls.

You just keep learning, keep learning.

And once you see the authentic of anything, you automatically know when the next person brings in a reproduction or a copy and then that's what it is.

Through the years, I've had many many pieces on parchment paper of photographs of Abraham Lincoln brought to us.

And this one was brought in very gingerly with they were cloth gloves, they unwrapped it and they showed it to me.

I asked them, "Where did you get this?"

And they said to me, "Well, we found it in New York."

And I actually saw these sold in the airport for $5, but it looks so authentic.

It's on parchment paper, is discolored.

They actually stain them to look like this.

But of course under the idol, you can tell immediately that it's nothing but a print, a reproduction piece.

The most common things people bring in are things that grandma said were valuable.

And that would almost always be something that was sentimental to her.

The number one they always ask first is, "What is this worth?

I want to know where about it.

I've been told is worth a lot of money or I don't know a thing about it.

And I want you to tell me."

Those are the things that they give me.

What I would like for for you to be able to tell me that it's been your family for a hundred years.

I want to hear that because that means you just didn't pick up at the free market last week, which is okay too.

Where did you get it?

How long have you had it?

What have you been told about it?

If things are extremely sentimental, their expectations are very high.

And if the item that I'm looking at really only has a very low value I say something like this, "I'm gonna talk to you about your item.

And I know it's extremely sentimental.

But sometimes sentimental things that's where all the value is."

And I'm gonna walk you down through the steps of why it doesn't have a high monetary value in today's society.

Is it really what it looks like it is?

Is it is old as people have said it is.

And there are ways that we can of course track that down on national databases that we all have.

But also it's in the eye of the appraiser.

A good appraiser can look at an item if you set it in front of them.

And almost before you take it out of the bag they can tell you the age of it.

And it will also the value will also have to do with condition nowadays.

The only things I haven't been able to appraise would be something if someone pops something on the table, and it's a part of something.

Most things that are bought and sold nowadays are only valued.

We tell them, we share with them, even at many appraisal fairs, that's how it's done.

It's just a verbal appraisal or approximation of the value.

If I wanted a certified appraisal I would have to take coming to your home or your site or your factory or your museum, and take photographs.

I have to do the measurements.

I have to do research.

And then computer time on top of that.

So, and that makes it a legal document.

In fact, if you're going to have a certified appraisal or an appraisal for your insurance company or your attorney, make sure that that person can defend their appraisal in court, if necessary.

You'll have to pay money to have it done but you'll know exactly what you have, and you will know exactly what you don't have.

When people bring in item, there's always that hope that this is a fund.

If you can, if you have a really stellar piece to remember that one thing is very important condition, condition, condition.

Nowadays, people are only for their collections they're only buying things that have a wonderful really clean looking surface.

- Learn everything you possibly can before you invest a lot of money.

If you see things as a reproduction, and you know what to reproduction, and it looks okay and that's all you can afford, and you wanna buy it anyway, yes buy it because the neck can be added to your collection.

- [David C Barnett] Photographer William Fields, finds his inspiration in the varied landscape of the Missouri river country.

His photographic techniques add mystery, and a sense of timelessness to his images.

Take a look.

- [Narrator] Through his photography, William Fields explores his fascination with a landscape shaped by rivers, the natural geometry of the land, the infinite variety of shapes and colors, and the passing generations of people working that land.

- I constantly am overwhelmed and knocked to my knees by the beauty that I see around me.

I came here 21 years ago, and I didn't know how long I would stay.

But I've lived here longer than I've lived anywhere else in my life because of the fact that I'm inspired on a daily basis by what I see around me.

By the old buildings, by the beautiful farmland, and by the just the amazing Missouri river, and everything it has to offer.

The open spaces and it's the quality of light, and it's the way the distant hills can become like a watercolor where there's layers of values from one row of trees to the next, to the next to the next hill, to the next farm.

Of course, the sky, the sky is always a huge part of when I make a picture.

I look for active skies, you know, big, strong clouds, and you know towering stuff in the atmosphere.

That's what excites me.

It's just a constant visual delight to me.

One of the great things that I find so unique about this area is the river bottoms.

All of this land that we see out here, these corn fields, and these farms, were once part of the river itself.

The river came right here to this building.

This was a port where they shipped stuff.

So, all that land out there, is now part of the landscape.

And it was when Lewis and Clark came up the river.

It was the river.

I'm fascinated by the physical decay that the machine that's rusting on the side of the trail or that the barn that's falling down with one door hanging off the hinges.

And, you know, all of those things are just a visual trip.

You know, it's great stuff.

It's just a big concept that's hard to get my arms around words sometimes.

The fact that articulated I wouldn't have to make pictures of it.

(downbeat music) - [David C Barrett] Artist Jeremy Johnson, occasionally finds his next masterpiece, lying lifeless on the highways of his hometown in Covington, Kentucky.

As a taxidermist, he uses his artistic skills to seemingly resurrect the dead.

His work is often humorous and allows for a lighter look at a darker subject.

(door slamming) - All the work we do is involving taxidermy and obviously that's the sort of thing that you're not going to find at an art store.

So, the supplying of that's work, a lot of it is coming from the road.

So, taxidermy I guess, you know, is movable skin is what it literally translates to.

And what it is is it's an art form in which you are you're moving the skin from an animal, and replacing the inside with a form, a sculpture.

(upbeat music) Much younger, actually the reason I even moved to Cincinnati was to to go into art school.

And I had a lot of designs on becoming a medical illustrator.

I had all these skins.

'Cause you gonna be really really delicate when you're, you know, doing dissections.

And eventually I figured out that I should probably go ahead and use those in the artwork in some way instead of just doing 2D, go to the 3D.

So, I moved on to taxidermy really from a medical illustration perspective.

What we do is, is yeah, we do ethically sourced thing.

The things that we're not doing is we're not going out and hunting.

The work that I'm doing is it has a lot of gallows humor in it.

There is a lot of comedy in all of these pieces.

A lot of the mounts and the taxidermy I make are intended to be viewed as as either intentionally kinetic or intentionally static.

So, like bone articulations and things like that they're meant to move and teach people, you know, so you can see how muscles are intended to move, and how bones articulate with one another.

But in many ways that that comedy or that sometimes the grotesqueness of it is intended to really disarm people.

As open up a gateway in a sense to shoot nature itself.

(upbeat music) Well, the things that gets asked a lot of me is, "How can you stand all the blood and things like that?"

Like all the gore of it.

It really isn't actually that messier gory, it actually is a very technical trait.

And so, first there is the skinning process.

So, that means, you know removing the skin from the body.

From that, then there's a salting process which everything has to be dehydrated.

And there's a lot of, you know sciency stuff in there.

It's not really necessary but the salts basically dehydrates the skin from the inside rather than having a forced dry coat on surface of the skin.

We take all the fat and other layers of skin, and stuff like that on the inside that need to be removed for a good tan.

So that that's at the point in which you're chemically changing the skin.

(upbeat music) I think the anatomy is critically important with all the work I do.

And I think finding those comparisons between animals and humans is really, you know, eyeopening.

And if I'm altering the anatomy then it has to be believable.

I think the most rewarding part of all of it is a deeper understanding in in nature biology, and anatomy and physiology.

Like when I think about the most, I don't know, energetic times that I've had, it's been when something is discovered that's just wasn't expected.

- [David C Barnett] That's it for today's episode, you'll find more arts and culture stories online at arts.ideastream.org.

And while you're there, please take our arts and culture survey so we can better know you, and what you'd like to see on this show.

I'm David C. Barnett, looking forward to seeing you next time for another round of applause.

(soothing music) - [Narrator] Production of applause, on WVIZ PBS, is made possible by grants from, The John P. Murphy Foundation, The Kulas Foundation, The Stroud Family Trust, The Kelvin & Eleanor Smith Foundation, and by Cuyahoga County residents through Cuyahoga Arts & Culture.