The Story

Growing up in the South, the director Kat knew that she was of Swedish descent, and that her Nebraska raised Grandfather Willis (for whom she had been named of and shared looks of bright red hair), had been one of the few to have moved away from that part of the country, settling and raising a family in North Florida. One generation later, Kat's Mother, Libby become the only relative to migrate again, to North Carolina, where she raised Kat. 

After the death of Kat's Grandmother Anne, she acquired boxes ands boxes of photos depicting the lives of so many relatives that she never knew, including her Grandfather Willis, in this seemingly exotic place to her called Northeastern Nebraska.  

In the past months, while sifting through her parent's basement, Kat uncovered a book that a relative had made detailing her family tree of The Johnson's from Florida to Nebraska to Sweden.

 Included in the book were various newspaper clippings that documented intense farm deaths as well as obituaries that touched on the importance of certain individuals in their shaping of the area's culture. 

Reading stories and analyzing photographs of  the beauty and brutality of those Swedish immigrants of the early 1900s and life on the farm for generations to follow, Kat decided that she would take a pilgrimage to Nebraska with her mother and a small film crew to learn more about her history, and the contemporary Johnsons that live on the land. 

The Creators

Kat Skinner - Director / Producer / Co - Writer

Kat is a studio art and film student in the mountains of North Carolina. She studied film at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts for a year where she began focusing on experimental documentary film and fell in love with the essayistic, self- explorative style of filmmakers like Agnes Varda. Kat focuses on finding the drama and comedy in family relationships, particularly those between mothers and daughters. All Things Grow Under The Sun will be Kat’s directing debut; she is ecstatic to take the opportunity to create a collaborative, family-driven documentary with artists that she has grown with and to further explore the family that inspires her work.

Sam Shumate - Director of Photography / Editor 

Sam Shumate is a cinematographer based in Western North Carolina. Living on his family’s farm in Marshall, NC for the past 7 years has driven Sam to capture the contemplative beauty in rural landscapes and the people who farm them.  

Marie Dull - Audio / Graphics

Marie is a fine art and social welfare student at Florida State University. Working as an announcer and DJ at Tallahassee’s only alternative radio station, an administrative assistant at The Alzheimer’s Project, and co-director of Phyllis Straus Gallery, Marie’s studio work is informed and realized through interdisciplinary and multimedia means. Marie is in her last year in school where she intends to pursue an honors thesis concerning the phenomenology of subjective memory and dreaming.

Libby Skinner - Producer / Co - Writer

Libby Skinner is a writer, avid bicyclist and the Associate Director of the Forsyth County Public Library system in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.  She was born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida and grew up visiting the mountains of western NC. She moved from Florida to North Carolina at the age of 24.  Her father Willis David Johnson’s family is the subject of this documentary. What does it mean to be a Johnson? Libby is looking forward to joining her daughter Kat on a project of self-discovery. All Things Grow Under The Sun will be Libby’s first film production.

What We Have

We will be shooting on a Black Magic Designs Ursa Mini 4.6K Digital Cinema Camera using vintage Leica lenses to document our journey.

We have contacted some primary relatives in Nebraska who have generously offered support for this project and secured shooting dates. 

Our crew is assembled, and we have individuals on board who are confident in helping us to achieve a natural and experimental result.

Additionally, we have been working on preserving and archiving media that will be useful for this project. 

What We Need

We realize that a majority of this project will rely on the beauty of chance -- in the sense of weather, cooperation, and interactions. 

We will be filming in an area that we have not had the opportunity to thoroughly scout out, other than in the literature of Willa Cather and through daydreams and phone calls with our contacts who live there.

With that being said, there is a certain vulnerability in this stage of production, as we acknowledge that our story could shift based on our opportunities and interactions in Northeastern Nebraska. 

While this is certainly a project of passion, we are looking for assistance with offsetting the costs of travel, lodging, and equipment rentals for 11 days. 

Other Ways You Can Help

If you are unable to contribute financially, it would mean a great deal to us by sharing our crowdfunding page throughout social media, especially Facebook.