Brantley Jones will be joining us with his film Stuckey, Private First Class. Here are some questions to let you get to know more about him!

What is your connection to the South?

Born and raised in rural south Georgia.

Where did you get your inspiration for this work?

It started with the Ken Burns series, The Civil War, which led to Tony Horwitz’s great book Confederates in the Attic.

How did you start making films?

I started around 12 years old, when my mother returned from Wal-Mart with a Sony Handicam.

Did anything interesting or funny happen on set during the shooting?

The mother of the baby we were originally going to use dropped out of the production the day of her scenes. We had to scramble to find the replacement within hours.

Also, the peacock in Stuckey’s dream was a last second addition. On our way to a location we passed a spooky, empty farmhouse with three of them roaming around the yard. So we trespassed and got the shot, never seeing a homeowner whom we could ask for permission. The spookiest thing about it was that someone had left a radio playing in the backyard.

What do you look forward to the most during Indie Grits?

Meeting like-minded independent filmmakers, especially producers and executive producers, so that we might expand this short into the feature it deserves! Oh, and also the grits!

Why should someone see your film?

Because it will give a human face to a subculture of people who are so easily dismissed and misunderstood. And it’s funny too!