A little over a year ago, I was in Columbia, South Carolina, visiting with two of my childhood friends, Joel Rice and Allen Roberson. Allen is the director of a very neat Civil War museum, the South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Museum, which is located in the same complex as the South Carolina State Museum. I told them about the “Texas Movies” exhibit, for which I served as Guest Curator in 2005 at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum. Before I knew it, we were talking about the possibility of mounting a similar exhibit in South Carolina.

Pretty soon, it was more than a possibility. Allen helped get me a meeting with the SC State Museum folks and I made my pitch on mounting an exhibit which would celebrate the history of filmmaking in South Carolina since the Edison Company made the first local movies there in 1902. I wasn’t given an immediate green light. In fact, the museum took so long to decide whether to do it that I pretty much wrote it off. But in December, 2006, the decision was made and I got to work.

The result opens on January 12 with a gala reception which is free and open to the public. On that night, visitors will get a first look at the posters, photographs, costumes, props, video presentations and other artifacts from the many films produced in part or in whole in South Carolina.Some of the films highlighted in the exhibit are Hollywood blockbusters such as “Forrest Gump,” “The Big Chill,” “The Prince of Tides,” “The Patriot,” and many, many others.But to me, the real heart of the show are the local and independent filmmakers whose work is represented there, people like Julian Adams of Columbia, who wrote, directed and starred in the Civil War drama “The Last Confederate” (2007). Kevin Woods and Adam Minarovich of Anderson are represented, too. They’ve made some funny – and bloody! — horror and action movies such as “Ankle Biters” and “Wise Guys vs. Zombies.” Jeff Miller, also of Columbia, directed a horror film there called “Head Cheerleader, Dead Cheerleader.” And Jeff Sumerel, another filmmaker from the state capitol, has produced and directed several documentaries, including “Bragging Rites,” a film about the eternal rivalry between Clemson and Carolina.I must say that one of the genuine highlights of my year gathering material was meeting Tim Rogers and the folks at Unusual Films, based at Bob Jones University in Greenville. Unusual Films has been making feature films since 1950, making it the oldest and longest running movie studio in the state. Tim and his staff were incredibly generous with their time, cooperation and material and they loaned me some remarkable artifacts. In fact, they offered me twenty times what I could use. I hope that someday they do their own exhibit on the Bob Jones campus — they sure have enough material to fill up any museum exhibit hall.

There were many struggles and disappointments over that year but I believe the resulting exhibit will make it all worthwhile. I’m delighted to have been able to shine the spotlight on some of the wonderful films made in my home state and I hope the exhibit will help filmmakers in Hollywood and elsewhere realize how much amazing work has been done there — and how much promise there is for films yet to be made.The South Carolina State Museum is located at 301 Gervais Street in Columbia SC. To contact them: Phone: 803.898.4921. Email: PublicRelations@museum.state.sc.us.The museum’s web site is: http://www.southcarolinastatemuseum.org/exhibits/hollywood.aspx The exhibit runs through October 19.