Jacob Young (documentarian)
Encyclopedia
Jacob Young is an American
screenwriter
, cinematographer
, film editor
and filmmaker
best known for creating documentary film
s which explore the eccentric people living in his native Appalachia
.
in Morgantown, West Virginia
, when he conceived Appalachian Junkumentary (1986), a film eventually purchased by over 90 PBS stations and winning a 1988 PBS Special Achievement Award
. It became one of 15 U.S. television shows later selected for an international screening conference. Young was also producer for two seasons of the documentary series Different Drummer, broadcast by the BBC
and Public TV
. His film Dancing Outlaw (1992) received both a 1992 Emmy Award
and a 1993 American Film Institute Award
for 'Best Documentary. In 1998 Young revealed that he was considering creating a feature film
using Dancing Outlaw star Jesco White
.
referred to Young's film Dancing Outlaw as "now-legendary", and wrote that it was "one of the most bizarre, upsetting, and ultimately, when looked at from a certain angle, inspiring documentaries to have emerged from the South, or from anywhere, in recent memory."
In writing of a 1999 retrospective of Young's works, which included Dancing Outlaw, Dancing Outlaw 2, "and a sizable chunk of Young's documentary oeuvre", the Austin American-Statesman
wrote "Young's specialty is fixing his camera on the quirky human" and called his work "life-is-nuttier-than-fiction films".
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
, cinematographer
Cinematographer
A cinematographer is one photographing with a motion picture camera . The title is generally equivalent to director of photography , used to designate a chief over the camera and lighting crews working on a film, responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions related to the image...
, film editor
Film editing
Film editing is part of the creative post-production process of filmmaking. It involves the selection and combining of shots into sequences, and ultimately creating a finished motion picture. It is an art of storytelling...
and filmmaker
Filmmaking
Filmmaking is the process of making a film, from an initial story, idea, or commission, through scriptwriting, casting, shooting, directing, editing, and screening the finished product before an audience that may result in a theatrical release or television program...
best known for creating documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
s which explore the eccentric people living in his native Appalachia
Appalachia
Appalachia is a term used to describe a cultural region in the eastern United States that stretches from the Southern Tier of New York state to northern Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia. While the Appalachian Mountains stretch from Belle Isle in Canada to Cheaha Mountain in the U.S...
.
Career
Young was a producer at WNPB-TVWest Virginia Public Broadcasting
West Virginia Public Broadcasting is the Public Broadcasting Service member Non-commercial educational Public television state network in West Virginia, whose primary station is WPBY, based in Charleston, West Virginia. Its studios are located at 600 Capitol Street...
in Morgantown, West Virginia
Morgantown, West Virginia
Morgantown is a city in Monongalia County, West Virginia. It is the county seat of Monongalia County. Placed along the banks of the Monongahela River, Morgantown is the largest city in North-Central West Virginia, and the base of the Morgantown metropolitan area...
, when he conceived Appalachian Junkumentary (1986), a film eventually purchased by over 90 PBS stations and winning a 1988 PBS Special Achievement Award
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
. It became one of 15 U.S. television shows later selected for an international screening conference. Young was also producer for two seasons of the documentary series Different Drummer, broadcast by the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
and Public TV
Public broadcasting
Public broadcasting includes radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. Public broadcasters receive funding from diverse sources including license fees, individual contributions, public financing and commercial financing.Public broadcasting may be...
. His film Dancing Outlaw (1992) received both a 1992 Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
and a 1993 American Film Institute Award
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
for 'Best Documentary. In 1998 Young revealed that he was considering creating a feature film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
using Dancing Outlaw star Jesco White
Jesco White
Jesco White, the "Dancing Outlaw", is an American mountain dancer and entertainer. He is best known as the subject of three American documentary films that detail his desire to follow in his famous father's footsteps, while trying to overcome depression, drug addiction, and the poverty that...
.
Filmography
- Saturday Night in Babylon (1983) — A look at reggae music and culture through the eyes of Jamaican migrant workers, originally broadcast in 1983 on the television series Vandalia Sampler.
- Appalachian Junkumentary (1987) — In which Appalachian junkyard owners explain their business, their hopes and their dreams. Originally broadcast on the PBS television series Different Drummer.
- Hammer on the Slammer (1987) — The tale of Donald Bordenkircher, who reestablished several West Virginia state prisons that were operating on the verge of disaster. Originally broadcast on the PBS television series Different Drummer.
- Amazing Delores (1988) — The biograph of Delores Boyd, an unusual grandmother who writes outrageous songs and fronts a rock and roll band. Originally broadcast on the PBS television series Different Drummer.
- Point Man For God (1989) — About Bernard Coffindaffer, a rich industrialist who mounts a crusade to cover the American landscape with crosses. Originally broadcast on the PBS television series Different Drummer.
- Glitch in the System (1989) — Elmer Fike, former owner and plant manager of a small chemical company in Nitro, West VirginiaNitro, West VirginiaNitro is a city in West Virginia, along the Kanawha River. Most of the city lies in Kanawha County, with the remainder in Putnam County. The population was 7,178 at the 2010 census.Nitro was incorporated in 1932 by Circuit Court.- City name origin :...
, and an outspoken opponent of government regulations lead him into battle with the Environmental Protection Agency. Originally broadcast on the PBS television series Different Drummer. - Doctor No? (1990) — A frightening portrait of Dr. William PierceWilliam Luther PierceWilliam Luther Pierce III was the leader of the white separatist National Alliance organization, and one of the most important ideologists of the white nationalist movement. Pierce originally worked as an assistant professor of physics at Oregon State University, before he became involved in...
, the author of The Turner DiariesThe Turner DiariesThe Turner Diaries is a novel written in 1978 by William Luther Pierce under the pseudonym "Andrew Macdonald"...
and one of the country's preeminent white supremacists. Originally broadcast on the PBS television series Different Drummer. - Mister D...Period (1991) — About James E. "Sug" Davis, an artist in Charleston, West Virginia, who is a self-taught man capable of painting or drawing anything that comes into his mind. But his real specialty is creating things out of found materials like a stick, a button or a piece of wood. Originally broadcast on the PBS television series Different Drummer.
- Dancing Outlaw (1992) — Portrait of Jesco WhiteJesco WhiteJesco White, the "Dancing Outlaw", is an American mountain dancer and entertainer. He is best known as the subject of three American documentary films that detail his desire to follow in his famous father's footsteps, while trying to overcome depression, drug addiction, and the poverty that...
, a man struggling to live up to his father's legacy as the finest dancer in the Appalachian Mountains. Originally broadcast on the PBS television series Different Drummer. - Fleabag : the Frank Veltrie story (1992) — Although operating at a substantial loss, a man refuses to close an old hotel that houses the helpless and destitute. Originally broadcast on the PBS television series Different Drummer.
- Dancing Outlaw II: Jesco Goes to Hollywood (1994) — Jesco, the Dancing Outlaw, becomes so famous that he is summoned to Hollywood to appear on RoseanneRoseanne (TV series)Roseanne is an American sitcom broadcast on ABC from October 18, 1988 to May 20, 1997. Starring Roseanne Barr, the show revolved around the Conners, an Illinois working class family...
. - Holy Cow, Swami! (1996) — Examines the life of the powerful Hare Krishna Kirtanananda SwamiKirtanananda SwamiKirtanananda Swami, also known as Swami Bhaktipada was the highly-controversial charismatic Hare Krishna guru and co-founder of the New Vrindaban Hare Krishna community in Marshall County, West Virginia, where he served as spiritual leader for 26 years .-Early life:Kirtanananda was born Keith...
and uncovers murder, kidnapping, and extensive fraud. - American Breakdown (1997) — Made for commercial broadcast, this was a pilot for a reality-based series featuring interviews of interesting people stranded by the highway in urban and rural Tennessee, originally premiered 10/26/98 on the television show Split screen.
- The Object - the Urim and Thummim (2007) — "Kentuckian Todd Walker found what he believes is a Biblical artifact in a Nashville thrift store that grants him visions, and now wants to convince others."
Recognition
Oxford AmericanOxford American
The Oxford American is an American quarterly literary magazine "dedicated to featuring the very best in Southern writing while documenting the complexity and vitality of the American South."-First publication:...
referred to Young's film Dancing Outlaw as "now-legendary", and wrote that it was "one of the most bizarre, upsetting, and ultimately, when looked at from a certain angle, inspiring documentaries to have emerged from the South, or from anywhere, in recent memory."
In writing of a 1999 retrospective of Young's works, which included Dancing Outlaw, Dancing Outlaw 2, "and a sizable chunk of Young's documentary oeuvre", the Austin American-Statesman
Austin American-Statesman
The Austin American-Statesman is the major daily newspaper for Austin, the capital city of Texas. It is an award-winning publication owned by Cox Enterprises. The Newspaper places focus on issues affecting Austin and the Central Texas region....
wrote "Young's specialty is fixing his camera on the quirky human" and called his work "life-is-nuttier-than-fiction films".
Awards & nominations
- 1988, PBS Special Achievement Award for Appalachian Junkumentary
- 1992, Emmy AwardEmmy AwardAn Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
for 'Best Documentary' for Dancing Outlaw - 1993, American Film Institute AwardAmerican Film InstituteThe American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
for 'Best Documentary' for Dancing Outlaw