The Pride of Strathmoor (2014)
A hand-drawn animated film set in the U.S. state of Georgia in 1927. Framed around the journals of pastor John Deitman, the film details Deitman’s persecution of the local black population and chronicles his descent into madness.
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Extracts from the journal of Pastor John Deitman of Strathmoor, Georgia during June and July, 1927.Einar Baldvin of Iceland is an amazing talent. He more or less single-handedly made this film. Writing, directing, editing. He does not provide the voice or the music, but everything else directing falls on his shoulders.What makes this so great, beyond the impressive animation, is how true-to-life it seems. There never was a John Deitman and there is not a Strathmoor in Georgia. But there could be. Viewers may even think this is taken from a real journal because it seems as though it was. Racism was (and is real), and boxing was one place it came out. Jack Johnson (who was black) had already won the heavyweight title by 1908, but his win surely did not reduce the racial divide in sports.As of now (February 2015), the film has won the Jury Prize at the Slamdance Film Festival and is eligible for an Academy Award. That would be something to see.