Thanks to the support of individuals and organizations, work toward the new documentary film, A Portrait of the Ozarks, is underway. However, we still need your help to make the feature-length documentary a reality.

A Portrait of the Ozarks will be a 21st century look at the life and culture of the rural Ozarks.  Inspired by the Shannon County two-part documentary released in 1981, the new film will explore how the community has changed, the place of the newer back-to-the-land residents, and how traditionalism shapes much of the culture of the rural Ozarks.

This project is a joint venture between the Ozarks Studies Institute in the Missouri State University Libraries, Missouri State University’s Department of Media, Journalism and Film, and the nonprofit documentary film studio Carbon Trace Productions.

Your gift will be put to use immediately to support travel to Shannon County so we can begin filming interviews. Those interviews, along with future ones, will be preserved in the MSU Libraries’ Special Collection and Archives, making the full versions available for researchers now and in the future.

We hope you’ll take a moment to learn more about this project and give your support. This fundraising effort will continue through mid-December, but the earlier you donate, the more we can accomplish in 2020!  For more information, contact Anne Baker, head of Special Collections, at AnneBaker@missouristate.edu or 417.836.4299.