Docs, including one on ‘Lamb Chop,’ at Macon Film Fest

Work from some of the best of the best independent filmmakers is in town thanks to the Macon Film Festival now in its 19th year.

Short and long format features and documentaries, fulldome films, Georgia creations, LGBTQ stories and student productions are showing – almost 100 of them – and it’s always troubling having to pick what to highlight. Each work is praiseworthy for its own characteristics whether it be a heavyweight or lightweight presentation, if there is such a distinction.

But I was struck by one film to a degree because of its director. I’m speaking of “Shari and Lamb Chop” which shows on Saturday at 4:15 p.m. at the Douglass Theatre and Sunday at noon at the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame. “Shari and Lamb Chop” is an artful, well-crafted documentary I found surprising, moving, inspirational and more than a little nostalgic.

If you were a kid in the 1950s, early-‘60s or the ‘90s, you likely will, too.

With this one, you either get what the film is about immediately or find the title utterly baffling. “Shari and Lamb Chop?” The movie tells the story of famed ventriloquist Shari Lewis, her lamb-like sock-puppet Lamb Chop and the other characters she brought to life. I got to preview the movie earlier this week and there’s more to it than you might be tempted to think. That’s because of the true-life storytelling skills of director Lisa D’Apolito. If you’re a regular MFF-goer that name may sound familiar. Six festivals ago, D’Apolito brought the award-winning documentary “Love, Gilda” to Macon. It tells the story of Gilda Radner, an original Saturday Night Live comedian.

In “Love, Gilda” and now in “Shari and Lamb Chop,” D’Apolito and company weave together archival footage, interviews, people’s recollections, written bits and other connected material to tell a very personal story of the woman behind the puppets, something D’Apolito enjoys doing and is particularly good at.

D’Apolito was here for the 2017 festival but said she sadly can’t be at this year’s. I got to know her a bit then and talked to her days ago about her new film.

“Shari was a remarkable person with more to her than just being a ventriloquist though she was one of the most remarkable ventriloquists ever,” she said. “But it was a little harder putting everything together than it was for ‘Love, Gilda.’ Gilda Radner left a diary that was very useful. Shari Lewis was very controlled about her appearance and her career. She wasn’t sentimental and didn’t have a diary but did have a huge body of work with tons of unorganized tapes. The magician David Copperfield had all of her archives in his warehouse. She also did a really good interview that gave me insight.”

D’Apolito said Lewis talked about her husband being a ‘seeker’ but she said she wasn’t a seeker or analyzer. She ‘just does.’

Here are a few of her doings for those unfamiliar.

• She grew up in New York where her mother played piano and led Brooklyn’s public school music program. Her father was a professor but also a performing magician, New York’s “official magician.”
• Lewis was an accomplished singer, dancer, writer, magician and, of course, an unusually talented ventriloquist.
• Her popularity really began in the early ‘50s when she won CBS’s “Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts,” as popular in the earliest days of television as “America’s Got Talent” or “The Voice” is today.
• Long before Jim Henson’s Muppets on “Sesame Street” or “Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood,” there was Lewis pioneering children’s television and eventually presenting hour-long, live shows five days a week filled with songs, dancing, skits and puppets as a single camera unrelentingly bore down on her.
• Lamb Chop made her/its television debut in a guest appearance on “Captain Kangaroo,” another children’s favorite.
• Lewis addressed social issues through Lamb Chop whose innocence allowed her to discuss controversial topics. Somewhat in that light, on one show Lamb Chop was baffled there had been no girl presidents. After all, she reasoned, there had been 35 men presidents and not one could do the job right while one girl would have been enough to do so.
• After her shows were cancelled in the early-‘60s, Lewis and company became a mainstay of variety shows, as a TV guest star, in movies and on game shows.
• She revived a children’s program on PBS in the ‘90s gaining a whole new generation of fans.
• Among her many awards were 12 Emmys, a Peabody Award, the John F. Kennedy Center Award for Excellence and Creativity, a star along Hollywood Boulevard and seven Parents’ Choice Awards.

“It’s interesting seeing what makes people excel, reach the top as Shari did then keep pushing and re-inventing herself,” D’Apolito said. “Shari is interesting because she didn’t have demons in her past, was never addicted, she loved working and doing her best for her audience. And it’s pretty rare that after being cancelled from television so many years a woman in her 60s can come back and have another award-winning children’s show. And she wasn’t like a granny sitting in a rocking chair, you know. She was dancing and singing and hanging upside down with the kids.”

So D’Apolito said she found Lewis’ story very inspirational as she pulled it together using all the small pieces. She believes audiences will, too.

Those who grew up watching Shari and Lamb Chop and friends and those who had no idea about her.

“She was unique and just did her thing,” D’Apolito said. “She never let anybody hold her back. Despite all her setbacks she had so much fun and was so positive. It’s a positive story because Shari is so positive. I think people will leave feeling happy.”

In addition to “Shari and Lamb Chop,” here are a few other suggestions. To get the most out of the festival, go to www.maconfilmfestival.com for a detailed schedule, comments on offerings and ticketing.

• If you’re seeing this on Thursday, there’s still time to get to opening night’s “Red Fever.” It’s definitely worth a watch and is part of the Indigenous-focused Fire Starters Festival which now partners with the MFF. Co-writer and director Neil Diamond (Cree-Canadian) will be on hand for a Q&A. “Red Fever” follows the previous outstanding documentaries, the music-oriented “RUMBLE: The Indians Who Rocked the World” and “Reel Injun,” a look at Native American stereotypes and realities in film. I’ve seen them both leading to my excitement over “Red Fever. There’s a gallery opening of Native creations at 5 p.m. at the McEachern Art Center.
• Closing the festival Sunday evening is another sure winner: two episodes of “STAX: Soulsville,” the series chronicling the musicians, songwriters and producers who smashed racial barriers and created the signature Memphis-based Stax record label sound. It launched the career of Otis Redding and others like Isaac Hayes, Booker T. and The M.G.’s and Sam and Dave. Director-producer Jamila Wignot will be there.
• Not saying you must see this versus that, but I’ll lump several offerings together and say the Museum of Arts and Sciences is the place to be Friday evening. Following a day of family-friendly and educational fulldome films, there’s the Georgia-made documentary “Steffen Thomas – Rock and Chisel,” about the famed artist-sculptor at 5:30 p.m. A panel discussion including director Jesse Freeman follows.
• Then in the Mark Smith Planetarium, there’s the “Fulldome – Night of Immersive Film” with a group of artful fulldome works followed by films in the “X-Treme Art Immersive” showing of more cutting-edge works. There’ll be a festival reception with food and drink at the museum.

Contact writer Michael W. Pannell at mwpannell@gmail.com. Join him on Instagram @michael_w_pannell.