Garland resident premieres documentary
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/community-news/garland-mesquite/sue-watkins/20141024-garland-resident-premieres-documentary.ece
A new documentary film, Denison Dam-Taming the Raging Red, a history of Denison Dam and the creation of Lake Texoma, premiered earlier this month at Rialto Theatre in downtown Denison, with a total of some 1,000 attending the showings.
Gene Lenore of Garland, the film's writer-producer-director, began his research using both archival footage and historic photos from the dam's earliest construction days through the 1957 flood that sent water over Lake Texoma's spillway for the first time. The idea for the documentary on Denison Dam surfaced when Gene was working as a writer on a television documentary being produced for the Smithsonian Channel. He was also a longtime staff member on Channel 8.
Although it was felt a documentary of the building of the Denison Dam wasn't a strong enough story for a national or international audience, Gene said he knew there was a lot of interest in the story in the Lake Texoma area.
The film includes interviews with residents of the towns that had to be moved for the dam construction, Woodville and Hagerman. Hagerman surfaced in 1946 as the Hagerman Wildlife Refuge. Scenes of the Red River on a rampage in 1908 are included.
When Oklahoma objected to losing land to the dam and lake, the case traveled to the U.S. Supreme Court where Denison won. The archival film highlights in the 40-minute documentary include scenes that have not been viewed in more than half a century. These include: construction footage in the dam's power house area in the early 1940s; official dam dedication July 1, 1944, with Rep. Sam Rayburn and footage of an American military demonstration on Lake Texoma in June 1945 showing how invasion landings were being made in the Pacific Theater during World War II. This was part of a War Bond drive.
Other scenes are of Burns Run, called Lake Texoma's Coney Island in the 1950s, and water flowing over the spillway at Lake Texoma for the first time in May 1957.
“Putting this documentary together on a shoestring budget has been an amazing journey, but the story is one that needed to be told,” Gene said. “A lot of people in that area of North Texas and Southern Oklahoma are there because they had relatives that moved there in the late 1930s and early 1940s to work on the building of the dam,” he added.
With a background in television news where he had worked on documentaries in Texas and Arizona, he says he began working on the project slowly at first, doing research on Denison Dam while developing a video production business based in Sherman.
By early last year, he had gathered enough information and archival films to produce a short concept video to explain the scope of what he envisioned for the completed documentary. He used the concept video as a basis for several speaking engagements in Texas and Oklahoma, where the turnout told him he was on the right track.
A major discovery was more than an hour's worth of color 16mm motion picture film shot at the lake in the ’40s and ’50s. He had the film color corrected and transferred into high definition.
The filmmaker said he intends to enter the documentary in film festivals and take the film on the road to make presentations to interested groups whose members could not make it to Denison for the premier.
Garland groups interested in showing the documentary can contact Gene at 214-679-4539.
DVD copies of the documentary are available.
Sherman Company Wins Telly Award
SHERMAN, TEXAS - "A Passion for Excellence: The Story of Sherman High School", a DVD produced for the Sherman Independent School District by Red River Productions of Sherman, has been named a 2005 Bronze Telly Award Winner, according to Gene Lenore, writer/producer/director of the project.
The Telly Awards is the premier award honoring outstanding local, regional and cable TV commercials and programs as well as the finest video and film productions. Founded in 1979, the Telly Awards annually showcases the best work of the most respected television stations, cable companies, production companies, ad agencies and corporate video departments in the world.
"I'm very pleased at being named a Telly Award winner. I believe the winning of such a well known and highly respected award validates my belief that Red River Productions is producing high quality work for its clients", Lenore said.
The DVD, which was completed earlier this year, briefly traces the history of public education in Sherman, the evolution of Sherman High School and a comprehensive look at the programs currently being offered at SHS.
The Telly Awards is a widely known and highly respected national and international competition. Each year, the Telly Awards receives more than 10,000 entries from all 50 states and numerous foreign countries.
A prestigious judging panel of more than 20 accomplished industry professionals, each a past winner of a Silver Telly, the top honor, upholds the historical standard of excellence that Telly represents. Judges evaluate entries to recognize distinction in creative work. Entries do not compete against each other, but are judged against a high standard of merit.
While "A Passion for Excellence: The Story of Sherman High School" was the first DVD produced by Red River Productions, the company, which was founded in 1996, has created other award winning video productions including "Denison: An American Hero's Journey Begins" ---- an orientation video for the Eisenhower Birthplace State Historical Park.
Red River Productions creates turnkey video productions for corporate, industrial, non-profit and education clients.
SHERMAN, TEXAS - "A Passion for Excellence: The Story of Sherman High School", a DVD produced for the Sherman Independent School District by Red River Productions of Sherman, has been named a 2005 Bronze Telly Award Winner, according to Gene Lenore, writer/producer/director of the project.
The Telly Awards is the premier award honoring outstanding local, regional and cable TV commercials and programs as well as the finest video and film productions. Founded in 1979, the Telly Awards annually showcases the best work of the most respected television stations, cable companies, production companies, ad agencies and corporate video departments in the world.
"I'm very pleased at being named a Telly Award winner. I believe the winning of such a well known and highly respected award validates my belief that Red River Productions is producing high quality work for its clients", Lenore said.
The DVD, which was completed earlier this year, briefly traces the history of public education in Sherman, the evolution of Sherman High School and a comprehensive look at the programs currently being offered at SHS.
The Telly Awards is a widely known and highly respected national and international competition. Each year, the Telly Awards receives more than 10,000 entries from all 50 states and numerous foreign countries.
A prestigious judging panel of more than 20 accomplished industry professionals, each a past winner of a Silver Telly, the top honor, upholds the historical standard of excellence that Telly represents. Judges evaluate entries to recognize distinction in creative work. Entries do not compete against each other, but are judged against a high standard of merit.
While "A Passion for Excellence: The Story of Sherman High School" was the first DVD produced by Red River Productions, the company, which was founded in 1996, has created other award winning video productions including "Denison: An American Hero's Journey Begins" ---- an orientation video for the Eisenhower Birthplace State Historical Park.
Red River Productions creates turnkey video productions for corporate, industrial, non-profit and education clients.