John Rash
Directing
Biography
John Rash is a filmmaker, photographer, and video artist originally from North Carolina with an M.F.A. in Experimental and Documentary Art from Duke University. Rash creates work that explores cultural outsiders, environmental topics, and the music of the American South. Since 2017, Rash has worked at the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi where he is currently an Assistant Professor of Film Production and Southern Studies. John was awarded the Soul of Southern Film award from Indie Memphis Film Festival in 2018, nominated for a regional Emmy in 2023, and continues to exhibit his work in film festivals, galleries, and museums internationally. Examples of John’s photo and video work can be found online at www.johnrash.com or on social media under his handle @documentarypunk
Known For
A portrait of a punk band and their role in the vibrant and eclectic underground music scene from which they were born. The idiosyncratic personalities of these three musicians demonstrates that, like all great artistic or political collectives, individuals with conflicting and confounding ideologies can be drawn together around a common cause. Championing the music, community, and politics of their beloved city of Memphis, TN, Negro Terror are far more than just another hardcore punk band with a provocative name.
Negro Terror
Elizabeth Bradford draws inspiration for her paintings from a profound connection to nature through direct observations while hiking or kayaking primarily in the Appalachian Mountains and foothills where she resides.
Warp Weft Water Weeds
The story of a rural community in the American South that inspired the international environmental justice movement and articulated the concept of environmental racism by fighting the state of North Carolina's toxic landfill.
Our Movement Starts Here
Tyler Keith plays punk-inspired rock and roll influenced by his love for Mississippi and Memphis musicians, authors, and filmmakers. Tyler's story is told through oral history and two of his songs performed in their entirety at the Lyric theatre in Oxford, Mississippi.
Mississippi Creates: Tyler Keith
A look into the world of music written, produced and recorded by Schaefer Llana and Dial Back Sound in Oxford, Mississippi.
Mississippi Creates: Schaefer Llana
This short documentary follows pioneering Chinese-American photographer Sam Wang from his birthplace in Beijing, China to Clemson, South Carolina on a journey of shifting cultural identity and constant visual creation. Sam's mastery of hand-crafted processes and dedication to creative curiosity has inspired four decades of students in the United States, and it continues to excite an emerging class of Chinese photographers today.
Sam Wang: Centripetal Persistence
For two consecutive nights in December 2022 the punk and hardcore community gathered in Winston-Salem, NC to celebrate the life of John Rivera, who had tragically and untimely passed a few months earlier. Several of John’s favorite bands, some whom had not played for over a decade, reunited for John’s dream concert as a fundraiser for his wife and daughter. This film highlights the voices of just a few of John’s many friends and the music of Prayer for Cleansing, Catharsis, Undying, Codeseven, Azazel, Riot Stares and Funeral Chic.