"The Murder of John Stephens"
(NARRATIVE - 16 minutes, 39 seconds)

John Walter Stephens was a North Carolina state senator elected to office in 1868 during the reconstruction period following the American Civil War. Hated by the Ku Klux Klan, Stephens was a controversial figure in Yanceyville, NC whose work to register former slaves to vote made him a target for violence. This short historical narrative takes audiences to a 19th century county democratic convention held in the Caswell County Courthouse, where John Walter Stephen would pay the ultimate price for his radical convictions.

Filmmaker Profile: Michael Corbett

Michael Corbett, began working in the film Industry in 1969 during his college days at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa Oklahoma. He began his career at KOTV channel 6 in Tulsa as a news cameraman. He has worked on more than a thousand television commercials and a dozen feature films in roles as varied as grip-electric to director-cameraman. His honors as director- cameraman include a Cine Eagle, four Addy awards, two of which were best-of-show awards, and three festival silver plaques. He currently resides in Yanceyville and works as the director of the Film and Video Production Technology Program at Piedmont Community College.

Contact Information:

phone: (336) 694-5707 Ext. 225
e-mail: corbetm@piedmont.cc.nc.us
website: www.pccfilm.com

Local Connections

• Filmmaker Michael Corbett currently resides in Yanceyville and works as the director of the Film and Video Production Technology Program at Piedmont Community College.
• His first production work in North Carolina was in 1990 on the feature film Escape directed by Richard Styles and staring Kim Richards, a low budget action-adventure film shot on location in High Point, NC.
• In 1995, Corbett production-managed a GM Mr. Goodwrench commercial featuring Dale Earnhardt in the Winston-Salem area.
• In late 1999, Corbett was recruited to come to Yanceyville to fill a temporary opening in the film and video program at Piedmont Community College. He subsequently applied for the position of director of the program and was hired full time in May of 2000.
• Corbett's narrative film looks at John Walter Stephens, a North Carolina state senator elected to office in 1868 during the reconstruction period following the American Civil War. Hated by the Ku Klux Klan, Stephens was a controversial figure in Yanceyville, NC whose work to register former slaves to vote made him a target for violence. This short historical narrative takes audiences to a 19th century county democratic convention held in the Caswell County Courthouse, where John Walter Stephen would pay the ultimate price for his radical convictions.