Onscreen: Civil War prison documentary
A labor of love for first-time screenwriter Joe Wilson, of Magnolia
Plumber-turned-screenwriter Joseph F. Wilson of Magnolia, NJ is eager to find out how a local audience reacts to his powerful documentary film Civil War Prisons - An American Tragedy.
The South Jersey premiere is set for 6:30 p.m. Monday, Oct.26 in Civic Hall at the Blackwood campus of Camden County College. Admission is free (read my column about the film here).
"The appalling death rate of Civil War prisoners is one of the greatest and least-covered tragedies in American history," Wilson, 63., says. "My documentary exposes the politicians and generals whose warped strategy favored ideology over humanity."
A self-taught historian and longtime student of the conflict, Wilson says "most people don't realize what happened in the prisons. I've even talked to other Civil War buffs who didn't know about it."
Wilson, who made Civil War Prisons with his musician brother, Mike Wilson, and video editor Rich Mendoza, hopes the Blackwood screening will boost the film's prospects. He has entered it in the 2016 Garden State Film Festival and hopes PBS will take an interest as well.
"That's a tall order," he says. "it might never happen. But that's what I would like."