The KET Fund for Independent Production

New and Completed Projects

These KFIP projects are now in production:

2007 Grants

  • A Kentucky Treasure: The J.D. Crowe Story, Russell Farmer, Lexington—a profile of J.D. Crowe, a master bluegrass musician and bandleader who was instrumental in the careers of Ricky Skaggs, Tony Rice, Keith Whitley, and Jerry Douglas. Voted into the International Bluegrass Music Museum Hall of Fame in 2003, Crowe still calls Lexington home while he continues to perform throughout the country.
  • William Goebel, Sean Anderson, Lexington—a historical documentary on the Kentucky governor who became the only U.S. governor assassinated while in office. Archival material, contemporary footage, and interviews with historians and journalists place Goebel in the context of his times and explore how his legacy affected Kentucky after his death.

Previous Grants

  • a historical overview of Kentucky’s Jewish heritage by Larry Magnes of Louisville
  • a remembrance of the long-running radio show National Barn Dance by Stephen Parry of Lexington
  • a history of Churchill Weavers by Tara Bellando of Mount Vernon
  • a comic drama about neighbors by Archie Borders of Louisville
  • a profile of sculptor Ed Hamilton by Joan Brannon of Lexington
  • a biography of Cassius M. Clay by Michael Anthony Breeding of Lexington
  • a follow-up to his film A Season in Hell, about eating disorders, by Walter Brock of Louisville
  • a historical drama about composer Antonin Dvorák by Robin Burke of Louisville
  • a documentary about how people face their own mortality by Louis Guida of Lexington
  • a history of Lexington’s African-American “freetowns” by Diane Cameron Lawrence of Louisville
  • a comic drama about The Tune Inn, the world’s only known combination auto-repair shop and supper club, by George Maranville of Versailles
  • a look at a theater project that brings Shakespeare to rural teenagers by Robert Salyer of Louisville
  • a documentary on elk restoration in the Appalachians by Bruce Skinner of Louisville
  • the story of the rise, fall, and restoration of Paducah’s Hotel Metropolitan by Terry Schmitt of Paducah

Completed Films

These KFIP-supported projects have aired on KET since 1991, are airing soon, or are to be scheduled:

  • Ambush—Joe Gray
  • Appalachia in the Academy: The Making of Eastern Kentucky Scholars—Christopher Stapel
  • At Leisure’s Edge: A Journey Through Kentucky’s Historic Black Parks—Boyd Shearer
  • Beyond the Border—Eren McGinnis and Ari Palos
  • Blood Memory: The Legend of Beanie Short—Robby Henson
  • Bourbon and Kentucky: A History Distilled—Kent Masterson Brown
  • Call to War—Dorian Walker • Sunday, October 12 at 3:30/2:30 pm CT and Thursday night, November 27 at 12:00 m/11:00 pm CT on KET1
  • Coal Black Voices—Fred Johnson and Jean Donohue (has also aired as part of KET’s Kentucky Muse series)
  • The Congress of Wonders—Ed McClanahan
  • Crazy Nate and His Wireless Telephone: The Life and Legend of Nathan B. Stubblefield—Brad Kimmel
  • Daddy, Am I Stupid? The Dyslexia Dilemma—Michelle LaRock
  • Duke Madison: Life and Music—Patrick McNeese
  • Dusk ’til Dawn: Kentucky Rural Drive-In Theaters—George Maranville
  • Forever Decisions: Kentucky’s Trash Trauma—Terri Pulley
  • Gethsemani—Morgan Atkinson
  • Graveyard Cleaning-Off Day—Randy Herndon
  • Green Blood Red Tears—Joe Gray
  • Hammerin’ Hank, Henry Ward: A Kentucky Original—Peter Van Howe
  • Hands On: A Year in an Eastern Kentucky Classroom—Anne Johnson/Appalshop
  • Harriet Van Meter: A Life Extraordinary—Kiley Lane and Arthur Rouse
  • Heart of the Hills—The Story of Mountain Music—Michael White
  • Highway 31—Cory Lash
  • How Joey Learned To Fly (animated short)—Edward Counts
  • If I Can’t Do It—Walter Brock
  • Immaculate Funk—Tom Thurman
  • Importing a Workforce—John Ketcham
  • Impresario—Eren McGinnis and Ari Palos
  • Incident at Uniontown—Ernest Marcum
  • Instrument Maker: Homer Ledford—Stan Petrey
  • John Tuska: Non Basta Una Vita—Arthur Rouse and Seth Tuska
  • The Kentucky Theatre—Eren McGinnis and Ari Palos
  • Kentucky’s Gift—Stan Petrey
  • Kentucky’s Ohio River Towns—Cory Lash
  • LAND (and how it gets that way)—Walter Brock
  • The Land Called ... Fort Knox—Cory Lash
  • A Lasting Thing for the World—Heather Lyons
  • Laura Clay: Voice of Change—Heather Lyons
  • M&M Smith: For Posterity’s Sake—Heather Lyons
  • Made and Bottled in Kentucky—Charles Cowdery
  • Maxine (aired as part of Wilgus Stories)—Andy Garrison
  • Metro, Act One—Morgan Atkinson
  • Mother Love—Christine Fugate and Eren McGinnis
  • Of Myth and Muse: Stephen Foster and My Old Kentucky Home—Patrick McNeese
  • On Bended Knees: The Night Rider Story—Brad Kimmel
  • Pharaoh’s Army—Robby Henson
  • Rock That Uke—Sean Anderson and William Preston Robertson
  • Rosine: The Legacy of Uncle Pen—Dan Hays
  • Saddles and Silks: A Jockey’s Story—Michelle LaRock
  • Seven Sisters—Patrick Donohew
  • Shakertown: Into a More Perfect Order—Michael Breeding
  • Soul Searching: The Journey of Thomas Merton—Morgan Atkinson
  • The Southern Sex—Christine Fugate
  • Spirit of the Land—Steve Barger
  • The Spirituals—Eren McGinnis and Ari Palos
  • Summerstock—Robby Henson
  • Third Lives in the First World—Joshua Shapero
  • Tobacco Blues—Eren McGinnis and Christine Fugate
  • Tod Browning: Master of the Macabre—Tom Marksbury
  • Top That One! (animated short)—Edward Counts
  • Under Kentucky Skies: 25 Years of Kentucky’s Music Weekend—Loren Crawford and Stephan Mazurek
  • A Walk Through Kentucky Wildflowers—Britt Davis
  • A Way of Life: Basketball in Kentucky—Morgan Atkinson
  • The World of Clay Lancaster—Stan Petrey
  • You Ain’t Seen Nothin’: Tales from the Kentucky Derby (distributed nationally under the title Tales of the Kentucky Derby: You Ain’t Seen Nothin’)—Louis Guida
  • Zoetropics (animated shorts)—Edward Counts