Coat of Arms

Professor Aaron Wilcox from University of North Carolina Wilmington served as a panelist at our screening at?#jengosplayhouse. He shared some inspiring thoughts after watching O Pioneer. Here they are for you, too. Don't give up, especially now. Cucalorus Film Foundation |?South Arts | University of North Carolina Wilmington

Every year we do some pro-bono design work for our community. These designs are still in progress, but there will be five interpretative signs that display throughout the village. Come see us in the Fall 2025, most of them will be placed by then. #history #wayfindingsigns #helvetiawv Helvetia Restoration & Development Organization Appalachian Forest National Heritage Area

Our mamas inspire and hold us. Jonathan's mom (Cuban) immigrated to the United States at the age of 15. Decades later, she still cries about losing friends and her home despite building a beautiful life in Chicago. Clara's mom grew up humbly but culturally rich in a Swiss-settled village hidden in the mountains of West Virginia. Her mama continues to serve community with sweet dedication. Taking inspiration from our mothers, who have found ways to gracefully reinvent, we are turning a page. Our new Coat of Arms website is live, and we're (re)opening our hearts to the world. ?? www.coatofarms.tv ?? Thank you to our colleagues, partners, friends, and family. We appreciate each of you. Love, Clara and Jonathan

**NEW REEL** Celebrating what has been and what will be. Enjoy our new reel. Full of fun work that we enjoyed creating. Let's collaborate in 2025. Happy holidays and Happy New Year!

For nearly three months, we've been fighting school consolidation and closure alongside our community. It's been sad and challenging. In an effort to bring some hope and light, we created this video with our Pickens School Local School Improvement Council. This video has layers of meaning for us. Initial art direction was established by our friend?Elena Chudoba. Then?Hasan Saied, a friend in Gaza, took this project on despite the hardship he faces in his home country. Hasan created more boards based on Elena's designs and animated this sweet tribute to Pickens and the farming practices the kids are learning in their greenhouse. Special thanks to?#planttheseedprojectwv?for supporting our children with this greenhouse program. Despite hardship, we're thankful. Thankful for friends, family, health. Here's to hope! Support Pickens School. Support rural schools. Support public schools.

“The Indies” by Slamdance will be an annual ceremony celebrating “the spirit of truly independent filmmaking,” according to its organizers. O Pioneer is nominated for the inaugural award ceremony this December. All the films nominated are truly INDEPENDENT FILMS, made with great care, micro-budgets, determination, and artistry. Please support their work and your local filmmaker. According to Slamdance co-founder Paul Rachman, "American independent cinema and its filmmakers won’t survive unless support at home and in Hollywood returns to the levels seen in the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s, when bold American indie voices influenced global cinema with the right industry support". Congratulations Director of Photography Jonathan Lacocque and the rest of our O Pioneer camera team Joel Wolpert and Justin Litton. See you at the awards! Read the full press release in Variety (https://lnkd.in/gz_U5xHq) Ka?a Kater | James Morley | @Tim Hibbs | Sasha Hibbs | @Nellie Rose Textiles

Film Shortage?scours the web and submissions for today's best in indie films. And they chose "Depression is a Beast." A film directed by?Courtney Dixon, we had the immense "fear" to create all the vfx, design, and animation for this beautiful and important film. Get the full scaries on Film Shortage's featured page here: https://lnkd.in/e_YXtti2 If you're suffering from depression, there is help. Call or text 988 and reach out to friends, family, and experts. You're not alone.

This 'rough' reel intro is meant to be a story of our Coat of Arms journey in art. However, we realize it's a universal story about the human spirit. Reminding us not to give up. If we really listen, each of us will find our unique stride, and hopefully we share it with the world in positive ways. We have to believe this. Forest fires across the coast. Hurricanes in Appalachia. Drought in the hills. Tidewaters reclaiming islands. Extinction among the animals. War across the oceans. Toxic smog in the cities. Trash drowning the poor. Poverty in the grocery aisle. School closures in rural villages. Microplastics in the gut. Anger in the heart. Today, we blame ourselves. Tomorrow, we will try again. Consider hurricane relief for your neighbor. Donate to the American Red Cross https://lnkd.in/eAATVSWA

Over the past few weeks, we've been creating a few new videos. Here's is a sneak peek for one that will broadcast soon and features the marriage of live action and animation...it's like gold! If you won the lottery, how you you use your winnings? Would you buy a house? Travel? Pay off debt? Give some to a person or cause dear to you? They say, 'you don't need money to dream,' but you need money to make dreams come true. That and lots of hard work. ?? ???#thisshitishard?#dream?#dontgiveup?#workhard Full video coming soon!

It's porch sitting weather in Helvetia, WV (Randolph County). "Porch sitting" is a generational pleasure for us in Appalachia. It often includes song, sipping on wine, and meditation on the mountains and nature that surround us. These Oxley boys (see photo) may have trouble for the small lost town of Oxley, but they sure did make porch sitting look cool. Enjoy this little animation sneak peek from a future doc we're creating about the historic?Tygart Hotel with Woodlands Development & Lending. We've enjoyed creating this film. Can't wait to share more with you. Here's some history about this photo: In the early 1900s, located a half mile north of the larger town of Wildell, the Oxley community was made up of several houses, one lumber mill, and a small store and speakeasy known as the Oxley House. When the Oxley House first opened, groceries and other goods were used to disguise alcohol sales. The evening of April 28, 1906 while the owners were traveling to Glady to purchase supplies the Oxley House slowly burned to the ground on. Reportedly, no effort was made by bystanders to save the building or contents. Another speakeasy/saloon quickly replaced the original Oxley House, in a location that was protected by a swamp on one side so that it was difficult to approach without being seen, and the Oxley community continued to play backdrop to wild stories, nighttime brawls, and questionable tall tales of this rough and formative time in our region’s history. To this day you can identify the site of the Oxley House by the copious amounts of broken glass and old bottles that still litter the ground. ?? Dr. Alan Clarke Ref. Forgotten Towns, Pocahontas & Randolph Counties, WV, by Steve Bodkins, McClain Printing Company, 2012