100 Million Stories: Our new documentary project
In association with the Dollywood Foundation, Land Grant Films at the University of Tennessee will produce a feature-length documentary celebrating Tennessee’s greatest export, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.
Dolly Parton launched the Imagination Library in her hometown of Sevierville, Tennessee in 1996 as a way to reduce illiteracy by providing free, age-appropriate books to children every month from birth to age five. Since its founding, DPIL has expanded from Sevier County to all 50 states and 4 countries. It currently gives away more than one million books every month.
Our documentary will cover this organization as it prepares to handout its 100 millionth free book. Beyond celebrating the 100 million milestone, the film will examine the history, impact and future of America’s largest non-governmental children’s literacy program. The documentary will include original interviews with recipients of the books, parents, policy makers, authors, program organizers, and the legend herself, Dolly Parton.
Production of the documentary will follow the model we have used on previous documentaries, including “Reaching Recovery.” UT journalism professor and Land Grant Films director Nick Geidner will direct the film crewed by UT students. We have started preproduction on the film and have met with DPIL staff to brainstorm ideas for the film. We will continue developing the film during the rest of fall semester. Shooting will take place in the spring and editing will follow in the summer. We plan to release the film next fall.
Our goal is to show the national scope and importance of this East Tennessee-based program. We hope to do this by traveling to cities that have seen the benefits of the Imagination Library, such as Washington D.C., talking to authors whose books have been selected for the collection, and meeting with families all over the country whose lives have been dramatically affected by the program.
To fund this travel and other cost associated with the film, we will be fundraising through grants, corporate sponsorship, crowdfunding campaigns, and private donors. If you’d like to help support this program, please contact Land Grant Films’ director Nick Geidner or give today through UT’s secure giving portal.
In addition to creating the full documentary, we plan to produce numerous shorter segments which will be released via social media ahead of the release of the film. These will be released via both Land Grant Films’ and DPIL’s social media.
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Land Grant Films is a documentary production program housed in the School of Journalism and Electronic Media at the University of Tennessee. Land Grant Film’s mission is to provide University of Tennessee students with real-world experience in documentary storytelling while providing local non-profit organizations with videos assets that can be used to raise awareness and funds. Land Grant Films’ documentaries have been aired on Knoxville’s NBC and PBS affiliates, screened in film festivals, and won numerous awards. All of our films involve numerous University of Tennessee students in key crew positions.
