With Dolly Parton’s new 10-week bedtime-story series Goodnight with Dolly under way, the honorary UT alumna is doing her part to comfort kids all over the world during the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s according to Associate Professor of Journalism and Electronic Media Nick Geidner, who produced and directed the documentary film The Library That Dolly Built.

“My one-and-a-half-year-old, Sam, who makes some cameos in the film, loved the first episode, especially at the end when Dolly sang ‘I Believe in You,’” Geidner said. “He loved the woo-woo-woos in the song, but I also think he loved it because it is … Read more “Geidner: ‘Goodnight with Dolly’ Off to Great Start”

As the COVID-19 lockdown has millions staying at home, country music legend Dolly Parton will help kids get ready to sleep by reading them a children’s book online at bedtime. The series, Goodnight with Dolly, will air once a week beginning April 2.

The project is a response to the delayed premiere of The Library That Dolly Built, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, student-driven documentary about Parton’s Imagination Library. The film was to be screened in New York City and in theaters across the nation on April 2. The premiere has been moved to the week of September … Read more “Dolly Parton to Read Bedtime Stories, UT Film Premiere Rescheduled”

Parton will be in attendance at the premiere event in New … Read more “Dolly Parton Film by Land Grant Films to Debut Nationally April 2”

Three professors from the College of Communication and Information were recognized for their scholarship at the inaugural UT Office of Research and Engagement (ORE) Research Awards Luncheon on Monday, March 25.
CCI Interim Associate Dean for Academic Programs, Chancellor’s Professor and BOV Professor Suzie Allard (SIS) received a Research Spotlight Award in recognition of being CCI’s top sponsored research scholar.
Associate Professor Nick Geidner (JEM) received ORE’s Excellence in Community Engagement Award for his Land Grant Films’ projects through the School of Journalism and Electronic Media. The award recognizes Geidner for having the top UTK faculty-led, mutually beneficial project that … Read more “Faculty Earn Campus ORE Awards”

 Welcome Home Brother, a film created by two recent UT graduates as part of Land Grant Films’ Defender of Dreams documentary series, received a nomination in the topical documentary category of the Midsouth Regional Emmys.

“The news of our recent Emmy nomination is very exciting. I am so thankful for those who appeared in our film and everyone at Land Grant who helped us along the way,” said Tim Morris, who along with Isaac Fowler directed Welcome Home Brother. “When we made this documentary, we never expected it to go as far as it has gone. We … Read more “Land Grant Films, Students Receive Emmy Nomination”

The Nashville Film Festival has announced Welcome Home Brother, directed by School of Journalism and Electronic Media seniors Isaac Fowler and Tim Morris, as an official selection in its short documentary category.
The festival is an Academy Award–qualifying competition and received more than 6,000 entries for 2018.
Fowler and Morris’s eight-minute film documents the experiences of three Vietnam veterans as they find their voice in East Tennessee through the help of the Bill Robinson Chapter of the Vietnam Veterans Association.
Welcome Home Brother is part of the Land Grant Films’ Defender of the Dream documentary. The project was produced in … Read more “Students’ Documentary to Be Featured in Nashville Film Festival”

UT’s Land Grant Films has announced its most ambitious documentary yet: telling the story of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.
Journalism and Electronic Media Associate Professor Nick Geidner, who leads Land Grant Films, came up with the idea for the project—dubbed 100 Million Stories—after learning the program was on target to give away its 100 millionth book early next year.
Parton started Imagination Library in 1996 in honor of her father, who was unable to read or write. It began as a free book program for children from birth to age five in Sevier County, and has since expanded across … Read more “Students Making Film to Mark Parton’s 100 Millionth Book Giveaway”

The short films—made by journalism and electronic media seniors Tim Morris, Isaac Fowler, Isaac Ward, and Jessie Tipton—have been compiled into Defenders of the Dream, which premiered at 5 p.m. on September 1 at a First Friday event hosted by the East Tennessee Historical Society. The film premiere was followed by a panel discussion led … Read more “Journalism Students Produce Documentaries about Local Vietnam Vets”

Nick Geidner, JEM assistant professor, and his students have been working on another Landgrant Films documentary about refugee families resettled in the Knoxville area. Local Knoxville station WBIR-TV produced a news story about the project.