Documentary film with Ohio University ties nominated for Regional Emmy

A documentary film that started out as a passion project by two members of the Ohio University community has now been nominated for an Ohio Valley Regional Emmy Award.

The film, “Legacy: Women of Southeast Ohio,” is made up of four short documentaries profiling the incredible stories for four women from Southeast Ohio and the Ohio University community.

Liz Pahl, associate director of university events at Ohio University, served as the director for the film, while Andie Walla, associate professor of instruction and outreach coordinator for the School of Media Arts and Studies in the Scripps College of Communication, took on the role of director of photography.

Several other individuals with ties to Ohio University also assisted with the project, including associate producer Delia Palmisano, an OHIO graduate who currently serves as a multimedia designer for ACEnet.

“This has been a passion project for us,” Pahl said. The film profiles the extraordinary accomplishments of four women who have dedicated their lives to community action, activism, teaching and social justice. They are:

• Ada Woodson Adams, former president of the Multicultural Genealogical Center in Chesterhill, Ohio, an organization that documents, preserves and shares the stories of Black, Native American and other underrepresented Americans in the region.
• Dr. Francine Childs,  Professor Emerita of African American Studies and the first Black tenured professor at Ohio University.
• Dr. Dru Riley Evarts, Professor Emerita and first woman tenured in the journalism school at Ohio University.
• Carol Kuhre, fiber artist and founder/former executive director of Rural Action, a grassroots community organization advocating for issues around social, environmental and economic justice.

“The concept for the film was born in 2014 when I worked at the Athens County Foundation,” Pahl said. Kuhre and Adams were on the Foundation’s board of directors at that time, which gave Pahl an opportunity to learn more about them and their accomplishments.

“I thought at the time, ‘How is it possible that these two amazing women have done so much for the community and people don’t know enough about them?’” she said. Over time, the idea for the film expanded to include Childs and Evarts, and Walla volunteered to do all of the video work. They also created a budget for the project, applied for grants and even held a GoFundMe campaign.

The film crew, all volunteering their time, worked evenings and weekends on research, filming, editing and doing all of the work on the project. The Robert E. and Jean R. Mahn Center for Archives and Special Collections at Ohio University was especially helpful with the research efforts.

Bringing this project full circle, Pahl was awarded a grant from the Athens County Foundation’s Women’s Fund. Stuart’s Opera House in Nelsonville served as a fiscal sponsor, and also premiered the film in August 2021.

“It was amazing,” Pahl said about the premiere, which attracted an audience of more than 350. “There were so many people there to support the women featured in the film.”  Most importantly, the subjects of “Legacy” enjoyed the film.

“For me, that was the most rewarding part of the whole experience,” Pahl said.

In February of 2022, the filmmakers submitted “Legacy” into the Regional Emmy competition and were thrilled when they learned it has now been nominated for an award.

“It feels really good to be recognized in this way,” Pahl said. “And thanks to this recognition, this means that the stories of these four amazing women are going to be heard by an even wider audience now.”

The winners of the Ohio Valley Regional Emmy Awards will be announced at a special event in Columbus on July 30. Pahl is looking forward to that event, but is also already busy planning her next project, a podcast she is working on with WOUB that is scheduled to launch in August.

She will also continue to promote the stories of the women profiled in “Legacy,” so that more people can learn about the accomplishments of Adams, Childs, Evarts and Kuhre.

For more information on “Legacy” or to watch the film, visit lizpahl.com.