My First Post

I've been filming my documentary, Grandmother Storyteller, for well over a year now. I've shared the concept with several friends and fellow filmmakers, but for the most part, I've kept it "under my hat" as it is a very personal story still unfolding. When I do share what I'm doing with others, however, I am consistently overwhelmed by the enthusiastic responses I get.

Today was a rather pivotal day for me and it was made quite clear that it is time to start sharing the idea of the film with a wider audience. So here goes...

Grandmother Storyteller is a lighthearted documentary in which I film my grandmother, Annie Lou Elder Morris, (or, as she as affectionately known to her grandchildren, Grannie Annie), doing what she does best: telling stories. Many of the stories are outlandish, you know, the very definition of a Texas Tall Tale. Some of the stories are funny and some are shocking - but since I was a small girl, I've always found them mesmerizing. I think maybe it was because I was born and raised a "Yankee", just outside Philadelphia, that I was particularly captivated by her stories as they took place in Texas with a setting and a people that seemed so wild and untamed and so incredibly foreign to northeastern urban dweller like me.

The irony of it is that, though they seemed foreign, they also felt familiar - these were tales after all of frontier people whose blood now courses within my own veins. I don't know if my grandmother realized it or not, but as she spun these tales, she gave me the very threads for me to weave the fabric of my own life... in her colorful way, she let me know where I came from and with that, she has given me the tools to forge ahead where I want to go.

Grandmother Storyteller is about more than just Grannie Annie's influence on me, however. It takes us on that universal journey that we all make, from our origins to where we are today. When I share with others what I am doing they always tell me, "Oh, I wish I had done that with my grandmother!" If you've ever had the desire to capture your family's story, my hope is that Grandmother Storyteller will inspire you to do so.

Of all the things Grannie Annie may leave me when she passes, whether it be pieces of china, or since we're talking Texans here, a rifle that has been fired by 4 generations of Texas women, the most valuable legacy my grandmother will leave me are, her stories.