After the world gave up on Lonnie Holley, the Universe sent him the gift of art.
This film tells how Holley overcame all odds to become an unlikely art superstar.
Ways to watch the film
Stream or Buy a digital version – Login to Stream for $10.99 or Buy for $25
OR
Buy the DVD for $20 w/free shipping
Winner:
Daniel Wood Audience Award, Fine Arts Film Festival, Venice, CA
Best Documentary, Harlem International Film Festival, Harlem N.Y.
Best Feature Film, Black Harvest Film Festival, Chicago, IL
Audience Award, TallGrass Film Festival Wichita, KS
Best Documentary, Bronze Lens Film Festival, Atlanta, GA
Official Selection: Cucalorus Film Festival; Richmond International Film Festival, Montgomery Film Festival, Baltimore International Black Film Festival, Charlotte Film Festival, Tallahassee Film Festival, Toronto Black Film Festival.
Thumbs Up for Mother Universe: Stories from the Life of Lonnie Holley is a 95-minute documentary film about the life and work of Alabama visual artist and musician Lonnie Holley. This story of survival, endurance and triumph has much to say about race, social class and culture in the American South. While Lonnie Holley’s remarkable life and the improbability of his success as an artist are an inspiration, addressing the pain resulting from the brutal hardships of his childhood is still a daily reality. As he says in the film, “My art was the salve for a lot of those memories.”
Over the 22-year course of filming Lonnie Holley, we shot and acquired an archive of interviews, still photographs, scenes with Holley’s family, and footage of Holley collecting materials, and making art and music. It is a unique record of an artist’s life and work. The feature length film, Thumbs Up for Mother Universe: Stories from the Life of Lonnie Holley is really, the tip of the iceberg. We see the film as an introduction to a cornucopia of materials on this website. Here viewers can go deeper–reviewing uncut interviews, photo galleries of Holley’s art, unreleased cuts of music recorded at live performances, short films created for the website, and stories that we simply could not get into the film. Check back, we will be adding new materials on a regular basis.
Lonnie Holley is particularly interested in encouraging the creativity of young people. Beyond the possibilities of festivals, TV, and streaming video, we intend to screen the film—with accompanying workshops with Holley, in community venues to reach this audience.