OXFORD, Miss. – A filmmaker at the University of
Mississippi is making a name for himself around the country
for his work showcasing food and its legends.
Joe York, producer/director at UM’s Center for Documentary
Projects through the Office of Outreach, was recently named
Food Filmmaker of the Year at the New York City Food Film
Festival.
York’s work includes filming subjects of the Oral History
Initiative of the Southern Foodways Alliance, which is an
institute of UM’s Center for the Study of Southern Culture.
These are stories about the men and women who grow, create,
serve and consume the food and drink of the American
South.
“At the SFA, we pay homage to the lifework of our region’s
culinary standard bearers,” said SFA director John T. Edge.
“Joe York’s films broadcast that message on the big screen,
which is, after all, where these champions of vernacular
cookery belong. We’re proud of his work, proud to call him
a member of our documentary team.”
Described by Corby Kummer in The Atlantic Monthly as a
“gifted young filmmaker,” York, who has nearly 20 films to
his credit, began his filmmaking career as a UM Southern
studies graduate student. It was then that he and fellow
graduate student, Matt Bruder, took on the challenge of
documenting the life work of Bill Best, a Kentucky native
known for growing and preserving heirloom tomatoes and
beans.
That first film, “Saving Seeds,” has been a favorite on the
film circuit and was a finalist for the Golden Snail Award
from Slow Food.
The NYC Food Film Festival, in its inaugural year, grouped
films by theme and showed them to festival audiences during
three separate weekends in June and September. York’s films
were screened during each weekend. He was asked to come to
New York for the screening of his work-in-progress “Above
the Line: Saving Willie Mae’s Scotch House,” a documentary
about the work of Oxford restaurateur John Currence, the
Southern Foodways Alliance and volunteers from the across
the country and around the world who have restored a
culinary and cultural landmark in New Orleans
York said he was surprised by the New York honor. “They
invited me to go up there, and so I did, and it was great
fun. They had a huge screen set up on the Water Taxi Beach
in Queens and two hundred to three hundred people came out
to watch the films. I didn’t know I was getting an award,
so it was a real surprise. But it is nice to be honored by
people who do the same thing you do.”
He said it was amazing to see the film set against the
skyline of New York City. “It was a wonderful display of
Southern culture in the North,” he said.
York’s work not only celebrates the lives of the men and
women who are his subjects, but his films also honor the
university. His shooting schedule for the food films must
be balanced with his work at the center documenting the
people and events of Ole Miss, including shooting footage
for commercials and delivering distance learning
technology, as well as providing sound and light production
for major campus events.
“Any time work of this caliber by a university employee is
seen in so many different parts of the country and by so
many people, it’s a great tribute to the University of
Mississippi,” said Mary Beth Lasseter, SFA associate
director. “The SFA is energized by our partnership with
the Center for Media Production, and we look forward to
many more films to come.”
To view films by Joe York and learn more about the SFA’s
Oral History Initiative visit the Southern Foodways
Alliance at
http://www.southernfoodways.com/.
To purchase York’s films, contact the SFA at
sfamail@olemiss.edu.