2009 Award Winners

Top Grit ($1,000) – Yard Work is Hard Work – Jodie Mack

Big Grit ($500) – Solid Country Gold – Ronnie Gunter

People’s Grit ($500) – Mississippi Queen – Paige Williams

Short Grit ($500) – Space Ghost – Laurie Jo Reynolds

Young Grit ($500) – Reverie – Paula Wood

Virtual Grit ($500) – You Will be Outdated Soon – Ricky Kelly and Scott Ross

Helen Hill Memorial Award ($500) – Yard Work is Hard Work – Jodie Mack

ETV Southern Lens Award (Statewide TV broadcast) – Sunday Mornings – Katherine Knight

Twenty years ago my cousin Ronnie was directing me and my cousin Jonathan in Civil War movies filmed on a giant VHS tape recorder in the woods off of Stringer Rd.  Last year he filmed a movie in the same area with most of the same actors with a little nicer equipment.  The product was Solid Country Gold.

What started out as a series of hilarious webisodes slowly developed into Ronnie Gunter’s first full length feature film.  Solid Country Gold was really a homecoming for Gunter.  After spending the first 20 years of his life in upstate South Carolina, Gunter attended Winthrop where he graduated with a degree in theatre.   After graduating from Winthrop Ronnie moved to the Hollywood of the east coast, Wilmington, NC.  After working the trenches on movies in Wilmington and playing the role of extras in WB TV shows, Ronnie decided to make his break for the west coast.  After working for several years in LA, Ronnie made his move back home to get to work on some films.  He filmed two short films, Joy and The Escape, both of which were greeted warmly.  In his first feature length film, Gunter used friends and family to compile the cast of Solid Country Gold, which was filmed over 3 major weekends in 2008.

There are currently plans for another unrelated movie that will start filming in fall of 2009.  If you want to be in the movie all you need is either a El Camino or a Moped.  Mustaches and mullets will probably also be required.