Moving Midway

Godfrey Cheshire's richly observed film about his family's Southern plantation - and the colossal feat of moving it to escape urban sprawl - is a thoughtful and witty look at the lingering remnants and still-powerful mythology of plantation culture and the antebellum South. An award-winning film critic turned film maker, Cheshire uses the relocation of his family's North Carolina plantation house to embark on a surprising and multi-layered journey. While observing the elaborate, arcane preparations for moving a centuries-old house over fields and a rock quarry, unexpected human drama - from both the living and the dead - emerges. And a chance encounter leads Cheshire and his cousins to discover a previously unknown African American branch of the family (who have their own take on Midway and its legacy).

Through the use of movies and music, and by turning the camera on himself and his family, Cheshire examines the Southern plantation in American history and culture, and how the racial legacy from the past continues into the present.

"Extraordinarily rich. Takes up the agonies and ironies of Southern history with remarkable empathy, wit and learning."
-A.O. Scott, The New York Times

"Brilliantly fuses criticism and storytelling."
-David Edelstein, New York Magazine

"Tenderhearted, tough-minded, witty and wise, Midway is moving indeed."
-Nathan Lee, The Village Voice

"Uniquely Southern docu has become surprisingly timely this election year."
-Ronnie Scheib, Variety

"Evocative, whimsical, earnest, intelligent and homespun."
-Gene Santoro, American History Magazine

"Thoroughly entertaining. Godfrey Cheshire proves that he is one of the few exceptions to the rule that those who criticize films cannot do any better than the people they censure."
-Harvey Karten, Film Journal International

"Senator Barack Obama's recent speech on race bluntly confronted the divisions between black and white still divided by the legacy of slavery and all that came after it. If ever a movie was in the right place at the right time to contribute to this national dialogue, it is Godfrey Cheshire's knockout documentary. May be the most moving 98 minutes you'll spend in a movie theater this year."
-Kurt Brokaw, Madison Avenue Journal