Neal Hutcheson

Neal Hutcheson (born 1969) is an American filmmaker, photographer, and author. He has received three regional Emmy Awards for documentaries on regional culture, language, and identity.^[1][2][3] He has produced 14 television documentaries on topics such as Appalachian culture, heritage fisheries on the North Carolina Outer Banks, Cherokee language preservation efforts, African American vernacular speech, and climate change.^[4][5] Hutcheson’s most visible work has featured Popcorn Sutton, a moonshiner from Western North Carolina.^[6][7][8][9] Hutcheson works as a producer for the Language & Life Project at North Carolina State University and is a contributing producer to independent production companies Empty Bottle Pictures and Sucker Punch Pictures.^[10][11]

Selected filmography[]

• The Prison Sutras (documentary short, 1997)^[12]
• Jornada del Muerto (documentary short, 1998)
• Indian by Birth—The Lumbee Dialect (documentary short, 1999)^[13]
• Mountain Talk (2004)^[14]
• Voices of North Carolina (2005)
• The Queen Family—Appalachian Tradition and Back Porch Music (documentary short, 2006)
• The Prince of Dark Corners (2007)^[15]
• The Carolina Brogue (documentary short, 2008)
• The Outlaw Lewis Redmond (2008)
• The Last One—Moonshine in Appalachia (2009)^[16]
• Core.Sounders—Living from the Sea (2013)^{[17][18][19][20]}
• Popcorn Sutton—A Hell of a Life (2014)^[21][22]
• First Language—The Race to Save Cherokee (Neal Hutcheson, Danica Cullinan, 2016)^[23]
• Talking Black in America (Neal Hutcheson, Danica Cullinan, 2019)^[24]
• Signing Black in America (Danica Cullinan, Neal Hutcheson, 2020)^[25][26]
• Land and Water Revisited / Revisitando Tierra y Agua (Kirk French, Elijah Hermitt, Neal Hutcheson, 2021)^[27]

Author[]

• “Smoky Mountain English: If These Hills Could Talk.”^[28]
• “Gary Carden: Folklorist, Playwright, and Storyteller.” (North Carolina Folklore Journal, 2006)^[29]
• “Inclemented that Way.” (Jonathan Williams: The Lord of Orchards, 2017)^[30][31]
• “Negotiating Language Presentation: Linguists, Communities, and Producers.”^[32]
• The Moonshiner Popcorn Sutton (2021)

Honors[]

• Artist’s Fellowship, North Carolina Arts Council, 2005^[33]
• The Bill Arnold North Carolina Filmmaker Award, 2008 Carolina Film and Video Festival
• Emmy, Best Cultural Documentary, 2009, Southeast region^[34]
• Brown-Hudson Folklore Award, North Carolina Folklore Society, 2011^[35]
• Emmy Nomination, Best Cultural Documentary, 2013 Midsouth region
• Best Public Service Film Award, 2015 American Indian Film Festival^[36]
• Best Regional Film, 2015 Native American Film Festival of the Southeast
• Audience Award, 2015 Red Rock Film Festival
• Emmy, Best Cultural Documentary, 2015, Midsouth region^[37]
• Emmy, Best Cultural Documentary, 2019, Midsouth region^[38]

References[]