Ourselves and that Promise

Directed by Joe Gray

Four contemporary Kentuckians — James Still, Robert Penn Warren, Ronnie Criswell, and Billy Davis — discuss their work and its relationship to the environment in which they live. Ronnie Criswell reads his poetry over scenes of a drinking and brawling neighborhood in Louisville where he grew up, works reflecting both a cynicism and an affection for that environment. Poet and novelist James Still, filmed at his rural Eastern Kentucky home, talks about his writing which expresses great fondness for and attachment to the region’s land and people. Robert Penn Warren offers his reflections on how the world has changed since he was a boy in Western Kentucky and recites some of his poetry about naturalist John James Audubon. Photographer Billy Davis displays his aerial photographs and is accompanied on a picture-taking flight in a small plane while he captures unique aerial views of the Kentucky landscape.