Alan Spearman

Nobody

Lance Murphey, Alan Spearman

Jerry Bell, a modern day Huck Finn with an infectious spirit, is aching to move beyond small town existence. He sets out to see America in a canoe he got by collecting 20,000 cigarette coupons. His drop-out philosophy and life dramas are unveiled as we float through this personal portrait of a man determined to travel four rivers, from an Indiana steel town to the Mississippi, on his way to the Gulf Coast. His bold and hearty journey exposes a present day Americana, especially in Memphis on Beale Street. We come to see, like Jerry, that life calls on us to take it paddle stroke by paddle stroke to each turn in the river and always remember that there is no running away from home...

As I Am

Alan Spearman

Blind Mississippi Morris, Kevione Austin

Chris Dean’s heart stopped when he was two. He died but he came back. When Chris was five, his father was murdered, riddled by more than 20 bullets in a gang shootout. At age 18, Chris gained national attention when he introduced President Barack Obama at his high school graduation. Chris is an observer and philosopher who has always had a few things to say about life from his vantage point in South Memphis. He and Emmy-Award winning filmmaker Alan Spearman walked the neighborhood for eight weeks observing and recording what became the script of As I Am. This film floats through this remarkable young man's landscape, revealing the lives that have shaped his world. Poetic and powerful imagery, captured by Spearman and cinematographer Mark Adams, combines with the young philosopher’s trenchant observations about life.