My Ozarks Film Series: Season One
In Season One of the series, which was selected for screening at the St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase, we explored a diversity of experiences along The Ozarks’ southeastern edge. Our goal was to help rebuild and expand the tourism industry following devastating flooding in 2017, with a focus on Regenerative Tourism. Regenerative Tourism combines nature-positive tourism, farm-to-fork, and cultural heritage tourism, helping protect a community’s natural and cultural history while simultaneously helping build and sustain the economic wellbeing of the community. Visitors get authentic cultural experiences and leave a place better than they found it. Each episode in this season features a real place in the southeast Missouri Ozarks, with a real person telling their own authentic story.
My Ozarks is a collection of short, intimate portraits of real people, places and experiences in The Ozarks. Our goal is to increase interest in The Ozarks and awareness of our shared history, to expand cultural and regenerative tourism in the region. In doing this, we can generate economic opportunities for artisans, entrepreneurs and cultural practitioners across the region, enabling them to earn a living without leaving the communities they love.
Keep scrolling to see all the episodes!
Season One Bonus Episode: Beyond a Documentary
This BONUS episode from Season One, filmed during our weekend at the St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase, takes you behind the scenes of the mini-documentary series. You will meet the Ozark Vitality production team and a few of the talented filmmakers who have been working with us over the past 4 years to create this special series.
Bonus Episode Director Quintin Huckaby grew up in southern Missouri where his passion for film blossomed. He is an award winning filmmaker who led the cinematography and editing for Episodes 4, 5, 8 and 9 in the My Ozarks series. He was a production assistant in the film Feedback, was an editor for Beyond the Interview: Lorrie Morgan, and has helped in numerous short films around southern Missouri. Find more of his work here.
Episode 9: Kat Robinson
A film by Jason Brasier and Quintin Huckaby
The ninth and final episode of My Ozarks Season One features Kat Robinson, a Certified Yoga Therapist in Doniphan, Missouri. Although she spent time living away from the Ozarks, Kat’s Ozark roots run deep and Episode 9 explores the fearlessly courageous life she’s created in Doniphan. Whether she is teaching yoga, flying through the air on one of her aerial yoga slings, or throwing candy off the balcony of her historic renovated home on Halloween night, Kat celebrates her Ozark heritage with infectious enthusiasm.
Episode 7: Ray Joe
A film by Quinsonta Boyd and Sean Loftin
Episode 8: Bill Bock
A film by Jason Brasier and Quintin Huckaby
Meet Ray Joe Hastings and his apprentice Anthony Martin as they work together in Ray Joe’s home blacksmith shop creating a traditional fishing gig by hand. Ray Joe is a master gig maker, as well as a remarkable storyteller who brings the old Ozark ways to life. He learned to make gigs from Paul Martin. Anthony Martin is Paul Martin’s grandson. The opportunity to learn how to make gigs from one of his grandfather’s apprentices connects Anthony to his heritage in a deeply meaningful way.
A German experience lies within the Ozarks …
Meet Bill Bock and others in the German-American community in Perry County, Missouri. The area was settled in 1839 by a group of Germans from Saxony, seeking religious freedom. The community they created at that time, continued to speak German as their native language until the 1950’s. Bill and a few others are the last generation to have learned German as a first language at home.
Episode 5: Andrew
A film by Jason Brasier and Quintin Huckaby
Episode 6: Sasha
A film by Jason Brasier and Quintin Huckaby
Meet Andrew Hampton, an Ozark musician who grew up listening to the bluegrass music and picking sounds of his dad, grandpa, family and friends. Like many other traditions passed down in the Ozarks, Andrew learned to play music by listening and doing. Learn how music is not just important them, but a way of life for this family and their community.
Meet Sasha Daucus, a regional expert on Ozark wild herbs who discovered the Ozarks nearly 40 years ago while visiting the East Wind Intentional Community in Tecumseh, Missouri. What was intended to be a short stay while waiting for a job opportunity became a completely new path in her life. Sasha experiences great joy living in the beauty of the Ozarks and teaching others about herbal remedies and the healing power of nature.
Episode 3: Bill Moriarty
A film by Quinsonta Boyd and Sean Loftin
Meet Bill Moriarty, retired U.S. Marine and VFW Service officer who works to make sure those who have made sacrifices for our country are not forgotten. Learn how he reconstructed the story of a young man from the Ozarks who died in Vietnam over 50 years ago, and helped bring together those he left behind to honor his memory.
Episode 4: Frances
A film by Quinsonta Boyd and Sean Loftin
Meet Frances McIntosh, a seventh generation Ozarkian and an active member of the Ellington Chamber of Commerce. Frances thinks about where she came from and realizes the importance of preserving the beauty of her community in an effort for it to remain vibrant. Learn about the passion Frances and her family share for the Ozarks and why they are proud to call these hills and hollers their home.
Episode 1: Jerica
A film by Ian McGee
Meet Jerica, a 15-year-old girl who gigs for suckers on the Current River with her dad, a tradition passed down for generations. She embraces the temporary reprieve from cell phone service and social media to connect with people in real life.
Episode 2: Camden
A film by Quinsonta Boyd and Sean Loftin
The story of the 2017 floods and what makes it worthwhile to stay and rebuild, from the perspective of a 6-year-old boy helping his mother, grandmother and great-grandmother rebuild their homes and their lives in Van Buren, Missouri.
Ozark Tourism Expansion Project
This project used digital media to introduce those outside the area to the many natural and cultural experiences, and unique artisan products, available in the Ozarks. It helped expand the tourism economy year-round and build economic resilience for small towns hit by major flooding in 2017.
Photo: Sean Loftin
This project enabled Ozark Vitality to bring accomplished filmmakers into the southeast Missouri Ozarks, as part of an artist-in-residence program, to develop high quality short documentary films for the My Ozarks documentary film series. The videos in this series generated economic opportunities for artisans and local businesses across the region by expanding the limited tourism season, by time and variety of activities, and expanding the markets for artisan goods and cultural experiences available to tourists when they come to the area. Each film we produced was also be an opportunity to engage and develop local creatives to help build the area’s capabilities and reputation for high quality Digital Media production.