Popcorn with Moonshine

Popcorn Sutton.

Popcorn Sutton.

Everyone knows movies and popcorn go together, but a new film series kicking off in January begins with a documentary about Popcorn.

The Last One doesn’t document the light and fluffy theater snack but instead profiles the old and crusty moonshine legend known as Popcorn Sutton. Sutton took his own life last year before he was scheduled to begin an 18-month prison term for brewing the illegal moonshine that made him famous. Seven Sisters Cinema plans to show The Last One as part of its new monthly film series that will feature documentaries of regional interest to Western North Carolina or made by area filmmakers.

The Last One will be shown at 7pm on Thursday, January 21, at White Horse Black Mountain in downtown Black Mountain. Other films will follow on the third Thursday of each month, including The Mystery of George Masa in February and Tobacco Money Feeds My Family in March.

“Regional documentary films serve multiple purposes. In addition to their entertainment value, they are also educational and help new and long-term residents of WNC learn more about our past, present and future,” says Don Talley of Seven Sisters Cinema. “Seven Sisters Cinema is excited to have The Last One as the initial film in our monthly series. The story of Popcorn Sutton is symbolic of the independent spirit which runs deep in this region. Popcorn was certainly a colorful character. Neal Hutcheson’s film depicts Popcorn with candor and honesty.”

The film follows Sutton as he prepares to brew his final batch of whiskey deep in the mountain woods. Hutcheson’s camera documents a man who embodied the stereotypical moonshiner, salty language and all.

“Yeah, I made all kinds of liquor in my time,” Sutton says on film. “I made the fighting kind, the loving kind, the crying kind.”

Talley says the Seven Sisters is committed to the culture of Western North Carolina, and the name reflects that. “The name Seven Sisters Cinema was chosen because of the Seven Sisters mountain peaks which dominate the landscape in Black Mountain where our series is screened.

The view from atop the Seven Sisters provides a different and broad perspective on the landscape below. Our film series will also provide a different and broad perspective on our regional cultural landscape,” Talley says.

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