Viewing: October 23,2025
Watch Trailer
Director: Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sánchez
Cast: Heather Donahue, Michael Williams, Joshua Leonard
Join us Thursday, October 23rd at 7:00 p.m. for a be-witching addition to our Appalachian Stories Film Series…The Blair Witch Project!
The event will include a pre-show presentation by Travis Eskins
Admission is FREE – Tickets are required
About the film
Three film students looking to make a documentary take a road trip to rural Maryland in order to investigate and interview residents about an alleged local myth centered on an entity known as “The Blair Witch”. Their efforts point them to a hermit who, fifty years ago, was reported to have kidnapped and murdered children deep in the forest. Beyond just being a grim story, the students learn more about the dark and mysterious character of the woods – more murders, disappearances, strange occult figures…in essence, the locals believe the forest to be cursed. When curiosity gets the better of the trio, they set out to explore the woods and see for themselves what secrets lie among the trees. What they discover is a force more dark than they could ever imagine.
About the speaker
Travis Eskins is a graduate student in the Film Studies program at Ohio University. He was born and raised in Huntington, West Virginia, where he studied Film and English Literature at Marshall University. His work is focused on depictions of labor movements in film, especially those from the Appalachian region. He is currently teaching a course on films set in Appalachia. Travis will be discussing The Blair Witch Project’s influential role in modern film history and connecting it to the local legend of the Mothman through the concepts of Commemoration and Folklore-ization of actual events.
Check out the rest of the films in the Appalachian Stories Film Series
This series is sponsored by the Ohio Honors Program, University Libraries, College of Health Sciences and Professions, The Department of Social and Public Health, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, OU School of Film, and The Office of Signature Academic Experiences.
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Juan Andres Ravell, director, is an audio producer and documentary director from Caracas Venezuela. In 2008, Juan co-founded El Chigüire Bipolar, a wildly popular political satire website that used humor to bypass government censorship in Venezuela. In 2018, Juan branched into investigative journalism collaborating in projects with reporters from Armando.Info, IDL Reporteros and Columbia Journalism School. Juan recently directed the investigative documentary feature “A Dangerous Assignment” for FRONTLINE PBS.
Patricia Marcano Meza is a Venezuelan editor and investigative reporter who has covered the corruption of the Maduro government for Armando.info. 
Kelly Hatas is the Executive Director of Hocking Athens Perry Community Action (HAPCAP), an antipoverty nonprofit organization headquartered in Athens County. She earned her BA in International Relations from Shawnee State University in 2007 and went on to serve as an AmeriCorps*VISTA for three years there. That experience led to her interest in the nonprofit sector, and she earned her Master of Public Administration (MPA) from the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Service at Ohio University in 2012. She has spent the rest of her professional career with HAPCAP, one of 1,000 Community Action Agencies that were established across the country as part of then President Lyndon B. Johnson’s War on Poverty. Kelly grew up in Southwest Ohio, and will talk about how her perspective shifted after moving to, and choosing to stay in Appalachia. She lives in Athens County with her wife and two dogs.
From legendary director Wim Wenders, this latest film is a perfect slice of peace in these tumultuous times. Japanese actor Koji Yokusho (who has won the Best Actor award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival) stars in the lead role alongside Tokio Emoto and Arisa Nakano. Perfect Days has been nominated for a Best International Feature Film Oscar at this year’s Academy Awards, and will surely be an unforgettable addition to Wender’s illustrious cinematic career.
