On a cold night in December 2010, the experimental documentary Rothstein’s First Assignment was screened at Virginia Tech. After the film, the audience asked questions of the panelists, who included Dr. Scott Whiddon, Associate Professor of Writing and Rhetoric at Transylvania University and composer of the original music in the film; the film’s director, Richard Knox Robinson, an award winning photojournalist; and me, the film’s assistant producer.1 That night was the culmination of years of archival research, interviews, long phone conversations,
planning missteps, rewrites, emotion, and gratification. The film has since been accepted to the Seattle International Film Festival, the Appalachian Film Festival, the Virginia Film Festival, and several other smaller screenings.
A Journal of Community-Engaged Writing and Rhetoric