Past Season

"Birthmark"

(Narrative – 27 minutes)

Based on the Doris Betts’ short story This Is The Only Time I’ll Tell, Birthmark is a poignant story of a despondent father’s abuse that first scars a child, brings a community together, and in the end triggers an inevitable revenge. Attempting to drown his baby, Jamison is stopped by his neighbor – the reclusive Zelene. Escaping to the general store, Coley and the community anonymously help the farmwoman raise the child. Coley shines as a surrogate father. Zelene’s rough edges soften and harmony surrounds the community until Jamison returns. Forced to make a decision, Coley acts for the whole community in southern gothic tradition – shaking up a complacent world.

Filmmakers

Birthmark producer and writer, Nancy Norton specializes in southern fiction adaptations. After successfully adapting several stories in mixed media for the stage, Birthmark is her first digital video production. In 1995, Norton moved to North Carolina to study filmmaking and has successfully written and produced in film, TV and theatre. Currently, Nancy works and lives in both North Carolina and California and is currently writing, producing, and directing an adaptation of a short story by North Carolina author, Allan Gurganus.

Director, Joshua Gibson is a native of Davidson, North Carolina with degrees in English and filmmaking. His own feature film, Two Rivers, was shot in the United States and India. Gibson currently works in film studies at Duke University in Durham.