A Circle in the Fire. 1974. USA. Directed by Victor Nunez. Screenplay by Nunez, based on the short story by Flannery O’Connor. With Betty Miller, Ingrid Schweska, Katherine Miller. World premiere. 50 min.
Digital restoration by the filmmaker using IndieCollect’s 5K scan of the original camera reversal.
Elijah Pierce: Woodcarver. 1974. USA. Directed by Carolyn Jones. With Elijah Pierce. World premiere. 18 min.
Digital restoration by Colorlab in conjunction with the Ohio State University Libraries Preservation and Digitization Lab, with funding provided by the National Film Preservation Foundation.
An early work by one of American independent cinema’s most distinctive regional voices, Victor Nunez’s 50-minute adaptation of Flannery O’Connor’s haunting short story marks the transition between his UCLA student shorts and the sublime series of features he began with Gal Young Un in 1979. The story follows Mrs. Cope (Betty Miller), a proud farm owner whose carefully ordered world is disrupted by three teenage boys, led by the son of a former worker. Their unwanted presence escalates from nuisance to threat, culminating in an act of biblical proportions that eerily echoes the Book of Daniel’s fiery furnace. Unlike John Huston in his O’Connor adaptation Wise Blood, Nunez refuses wide-angle close-ups and eccentric performances, finding his Southern gothic instead in the experience and perspective of his very human characters.
Elijah Pierce: Woodcarver is an 18-minute documentary from 1974 that explores the life and artistry of Elijah Pierce, a self-trained African American woodcarver whose sculptures explore historical, Biblical, and personal themes. The film traces his journey from Baldwin, Mississippi, where he was born to formerly enslaved parents, to Columbus, Ohio, where he worked as a barber, turning his shop into a gallery and community center.