Rumors of a Music Television (MTV) Film Crew shooting a film in Boone County circulated through Madison last week and made their way to the Coal Valley News.

“MTV Home Video is starting a new documentary division,” Julien Nitzberg, an independent filmmaker, said, confirming that the reports weren’t too far off base.

As an independent filmmaker, Nitzberg and his crew are working to construct a video that will be accepted by MTV Home Video for airing sometime next year.

“Documentaries are like the low-budget stepchild of filmmaking,” Nitzberg told the Coal Valley News.

Unlike a film about the Civil War, an event that has come and gone in the history books, documenting the lives of people who are still living takes on a life of its own, at times taking the filmmakers in directions they had not originally considered.

“That’s the beauty of documentaries, and we are experiencing that ourselves as we document every generation of this family, following them close to a year,” Nitzberg said.

According to Nitzberg, the crew has been filming since November and hopes that the film will be released sometime next year.

“They have the right to air it on any of the networks they own,” he said.

Jesco White and his family are the subjects of the proposed documentary. According to Nitzberg, he and other members of his crew have known the White family for many years.

“I’ve known the family for nearly 20 years at this point. Our producer, Storm Taylor, has known Jesco for five years,” he said.

According to Nitzberg, the first member of the White family he met was Mamie White at a music concert in 1989. Nitzberg recalled that a fight broke out during the concert and it was Mamie who broke it up, after which they began talking and she offered to introduce him to her family.

“She told me, ‘You just have to meet my brother,’” Nizberg said, remembering that he became fascinated with Jesco’s dancing ability.

It was Nitzberg who first filmed Jesco White for the film, The Dancing Outlaw, which garnered national attention and culminated in an appearance by Jesco White on the Roseanne Show. The film is available to view on YOUTUBE.com in three parts.

“I always loved Jesco and thought he was talented. I thought Dancing Outlaw could have been done, and shown the culture of the dance, better,” Nitzberg said.

According to Associate Producer Katie Doering, the people she has spoken with have very strong opinions about the film, Dancing Outlaws.

“Some of the first questions I ask those people are, ‘What would you like to see?’ and ‘How can Dancing Outlaws be done better?’” Doering said.

“Some people appeal to his wildness and others are appeal to him for his mountain culture,” Doering said.

“Certainly, there are politics in the culture,” Nitzberg said. “What we’re trying to do is preserve the mountain dancing,” he said.

When asked about the stereotypes of West Virginians, Nitzberg commented, “The people of this area should be proud of their heritage.”

“You listen to traditional Irish music and Appalachian music and they are the exact same music. Have you been to Ireland? You go to Ireland for example and drive from town to town and you have a pub in every town that has their own unique music and dance.” he said.

“Its basically Irish Stomp,” Nitzberg said to describe the style of Jesco’s dancing.

The purpose of his documentary is not to give the impression that West Virginians live in shacks, barefoot, without running water.

“I go to peoples’ houses and it’s hard to find someone who doesn’t own a big screen t.v.,” he said.

“But that’s just it. Why does everyone feel it necessary to listen to the same music, or shop at the same stores at the mall?”

When asked why he believed some people, younger generations in particular, may not take pride in their mountain upbringing, Nitzberg replied, “It’s not taught; it’s something that’s not talked about. It’s the same with the people in Louisiana. Similar negative things were said of the Blues at one time. Everything looked down on it, but now people revere it. Without Blues, there wouldn’t be the music people listen to today,” he said.

“With this documentary we are following all the members of the family, all of the generations… Today, some people may look down on Jesco White and this style of dancing, but generations from now, people will be looking back on this as a lost art and will revere it, “ Nitzberg said.

Nitzberg’s previous work also includes documentaries for PBS about pollution in the Eastern Kentucky valley area, a project he started at Appal Shop in Kentucky right after college.

Both Nitzberg and Doering currently reside in California, though they have been traveling back-and-forth from their homes in the Hollywood Hills to the Appalachian Mountains to film the documentary.

They’re not the only ones traveling long distances for the project. Recently a band, Ponty’s Camper, from Kentucky was brought in to play for Jesco in order to film a dancing sequence.

“Jesco’s brother has a camper that he used to stay and dance at. It’s in the film, Dancing Outlaw, called Ponty’s Camper. This band actually named themselves after Jesco’s brother and The Dancing Outlaw film. Basically, they watched the movie and started a punk rock band and then stood back a moment and said, ‘hey! This is our heritage.’ So they started playing [the Appalachian music] again.” Nitzberg said.

The documentary film crew is trying to contact all former members of Donald Ray White’s (commonly referred to as D. Ray’s) Bluegrass Band. If you have stories about musicians or performers of the Appalachian Arts, contact Katie Doering, Associate Producer at kdoering2002@yahoo.com.