Laura Kissel

Americans consume nearly 20 billion new items of clothing each year. Yet few of us know how our clothes are made, much less who produces them. Cotton Road follows the commodity of cotton from South Carolina farms to Chinese factories to illuminate the work and industrial processes in a global supply chain.

HD, 73:00, 2014

For more information: www.cottonroadmovie.com 

HONORS AND AWARDS

TOP GRIT Jury Prize, Indie Grits Film Festival 2015

FORK IN THE ROAD AWARD, GreenTopia Film Festival 2015
"Recognizes an exemplary feature film for its powerful message to promote change."

BEST DOCUMENTARY, Beaufort International Film Festival 2015

JURY'S CHOICE 1st PLACE, Black Maria Film Festival 2015

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE, Santa Monica Independent Film Festival 2014  

The Zhu family on Chongming Island in the Shanghai District have produced handmade cotton quilts since the Great Leap Forward. In this short video they share their thoughts about quilt production as they demonstrate the traditional process of tan mian hua 弹棉花. 

HD, 15:00, 2011

Distribution
DVD available.  Contact me for institutional and individual orders. 

Select screenings
Association for Asian Studies
San Diego, CAMarch 2013

Director’s Lounge
Berlin, Germany  February 2013

National Gallery of Art
Washington, D.C.  May 2012

Flaherty on the Road: City Symphonies
(2011-2012) in:
Philadelphia
Perm, Russia
San Francisco
Chicago, and more...

Robert Flaherty Film Seminar, June 2011 [premiere]

A short documentary about two workers I met as they washed the windows of an apartment building in Shanghai. 

HD, 3:00, 2010

Distribution
DVD available.  Contact me for institutional and individual orders. 

Select screenings
Director’s Lounge
Berlin, Germany  February 2013

National Gallery of Art
Washington, D.C.  May 2012

Flaherty on the Road: City Symphonies
(2011-2012) in:
Philadelphia
Perm, Russia
San Francisco
Chicago, and more...

Robert Flaherty Film Seminar, June 2011 [premiere]

Beyond the Classroom: China depicts China's historic sites and contemporary social issues through the perspective of undergraduate students as they travel from cosmopolitan cities to rural mountain towns and industrial centers. The video highlights the importance of international travel as an educational experience and reveals how cultural exchange can expand and enrich our understanding of the world.

2009 Emmy Nomination (Southeastern Region)
2008 CINE Golden Eagle Award

SD, 30:00, 2007

Distributed by International Programs,
University of South Carolina

Select screenings

SCETV broadcast, "Southern Lens," 2008
Reinvention Center Conference, Washington, D.C. 2008
 

Part road movie, part nature documentary, this video playfully explores the falsely gendered nature of the Atlanta Falcons football moniker through a bird of prey expert and a rescued American Kestrel (falcon).
Co-Directed and Co-Produced with Niklas Sven Vollmer.

digital video, 7:20, 2007

select screenings (2007-2009)
SCETV broadcast on “Southern Lens” 
Nashville Film Festival
Atlanta Film Festival
Indie Grits Film Festival
EarthVision Environmental Film Festival, Santa Cruz, CA
Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, Missoula, MT
Northwest Film Forum, Seattle, WA
IDC Showcase (sponsored by SILVERDOCS, AFI Silver Theater)
DokuFest Kosovo, Yugoslavia 

An experimental documentary that explores the site of Cabin Field, a mile-long stretch of agricultural land in Crisp County, Georgia. Through the memories of land owners, farmers, residents and agricultural laborers, Cabin Field examines visible and submerged evidence; the material and ephemeral. Scientific and agricultural surveys reveal old home sites and the changing contours of Cabin field; archival film images of rural Georgia emerge as fragments of evidence to comment on our understanding of race, gender and the construction of place. Cabin Field weaves a portrait of a place as a palimpsest -- multifaceted, complex, layered, ever changing.

16mm film and digital video, 40:00, 2005

Distribution
DVD available.  Contact me for institutional and individual orders. 

Review
The Moving Image Journal, Vol. 7 Spring 2007 | download

Awards

Honorable Mention
Rural Route Film Festival 2005

Jury Citation Award 
Black Maria Film and Video Festival 2006

Best Documentary
Delta International Film and Video Festival 2006

Invited Featured Artist
25th Anniversary of Women Direct 2006 

Select screenings (2005-2007)
Robert Flaherty Film Seminar 2011

ATHICA Gallery, Athens, GA

Atlanta Film and Video Festival

911 Media Arts Center, Seattle

Delta International Film and Video Festival

Balgan Experimental Film & Video Series, Boston

Black Maria Film and Video Festival

SCETV broadcast on "Southern Lens" (2006)

Echo Park Film Center, Los Angeles

Anthology Film Archives, NYC

Rural Route Film Festival

Library of Congress [Premiere] 

 

Leaving Bristol is a documentary film that explores the loss of the filmmaker's family farm in Bristol, Tennessee, and the failure of her grandmother Trula's aging mind. The film documents Trula's move away from the farm and the last days of her life, while simultaneously constructing a history of the 200 year old farm from things that are left behind. Trula's fragmented memory becomes the model for the film's telling of the history of a place. A story of the farm is woven from things found in the barns, photographs, stories overheard- all accompanied by the passing of the seasons and the planting of the annual tobacco crop.

16mm film, 32:00, 1999

Distribution:  contact me


select screenings (2000-2005)
SCETV broadcast, "Southern Lens"

SCINDY Festival, Piccolo Spoleto

McKissick Museum, Columbia, SC

James River Festival of the Moving Image (First Place Award)

Women Direct (Ithaca, NY)

Women in the Director's Chair (Chicago)

May River Oysters
[HD, 5:00, 2014]

A documentary short about oyster farmer Jared Mayhew who lives and farms in Bluffton, SC. Produced for Southern Foodways Alliance.  WATCH

htar tar (weaving) 
[HD, 3:00, 2012]

A documentary short about Mu Pree, a refugee from Burma, and the weaving tradition she tries to keep alive in her new home in Columbia, South Carolina. Produced in partnership with the South Carolina Arts Commission for their state- wide Arts Participation Initiative. This video will be used by the agency. 

Open Secret
[2011, Directed by Steve Lickteig]
Director of Photography credit

What if everything you thought you knew about yourself was a lie?  And everyone knew the truth except you?  
 

Verdant Hills: Healing Nature, Sustaining Life
[SD, 20:00, 1998]

A documentary about sustainable agriculture in the rural Philippines. The video has been screened for congressional committees in the Philippines and United States. This video is still circulating as an educational tool for rural communities on Mindanao, where it was filmed. Produced in partnership with Dr. Gladys Buenavista, Dr. Ed Kenemasu, SANREM CRSP and the University of Georgia's Office of Global Programs for the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences.

"Campaign For Full Citizenship" is my undergraduate thesis film, produced at Ithaca College. It documents the efforts of disability rights activists to challenge Georgia's state policies that segregated people with disabilities in state institutions. It also shows people with disabilities in Athens, Georgia living with support in their communities and advocating for "full citizenship" and civil rights. The film was first screened in 1991 at Ithaca College in Ithaca, NY and at IMAGE Film/Video Center in Atlanta (a non-profit community media center in the 80s and 90s). After 24 years in a box, the film re-premiered in October 2015 at the Russell Library's Georgia Disability History Symposium: Stories of Advocacy and Action at the University of Georgia. A digital scan of the edited workprint is being made available on Archive.org until a preservation copy of the film can be produced.