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Moving Midway
A film by Godfrey Cheshire 98 minutes, documentary, color, English, 2008
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The past is not dead. It's not even past. - William Faulkner Humorous, poignant, probing and suspenseful, Moving Midway follows a real-life family commotion that swirls around one of America’s most contested and controversial icons: the Southern plantation. New York film critic-turned-filmmaker Godfrey Cheshire returns home to North Carolina and finds that his cousin Charlie Silver proposes to uproot and relocate the family ancestral home – Midway Plantation – to escape urban sprawl. Cheshire also comes across history professor Robert Hinton, who reveals that his grandfather was born a slave at Midway. As Cheshire and Hinton explore the plantation mythology embodied in our cultural history – from Uncle Tom’s Cabin to Gone with the Wind to Roots – Charlie meanwhile follows through on the Herculean feat of hoisting Midway several miles across a forbidding landscape. But this event’s drama leads to an even more startling surprise: the discovery of 100 African- American cousins that Cheshire and Silver never suspected, potent proof of America’s long buried but increasingly important status as a mixed-race society. Reviews "Extraordinarily rich! Takes up the agonies and ironies of Southern history with remarkable empathy, wit and learning." - A.O. Scott, The New York Times (Critic's Pick) "Brilliantly fuses criticism and storytelling... Thrilling!" - David Edelstein, New York Magazine "Enthralling! A roaring good time." - Ella Taylor, LA Weekly "Tenderhearted, tough-minded, witty and wise, Midway is moving indeed." "A-! Thoughtful, graceful, compassionate." - Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly "An illuminating look at the history of the plantation and the endless secrets of the South's gothic past." -Oprah's O at Home Magazine "A-! Cheshire demonstrates how popular mythology works its way into our private imaginations." - Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor "A fascinating story…boasts some quirky comic moments, but it's most notable for furthering the all-too-serious discussion of the South's racial legacy." - Mark Jenkins, NPR Runner-up Best Documentary of 2008- New York Magazine Recommended Reading The Tar Heel State: A History of North Carolina A Guide to the Historic Architecture of Piedmont North Carolina Links See details about this film's theatrical run. Disc Features ● Bonus scenes
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by Milton Ready
by Catherine Bishir and Michael Southern
