The film Fort Scott Stories, an intimate portrait of present-day Fort Scott, screens this weekend at Wichita’s Tallgrass Film Festival. The documentary captures the diverse experiences of people in the southeastern Kansas community. KMUW’s Carla Eckels sat down with filmmaker Michael Cheers in Fort Scott to discuss the project, which was inspired by pioneering photographer and filmmaker Gordon Parks.
What inspired you to make this film?
This grew out of my coming here every year for the [Gordon Parks] celebrations. I’m a storyteller, and I realized there were stories that still needed to be told, keeping everything in the spirit of Gordon Parks, his filmmaking and his photography. I started working on a two-volume companion coffee table book called Fort Scott Now Stories and I Need Paris, along with the documentary. I didn’t know it was going to take five years, but we got it done. Kirk Sharp, executive director of the Gordon Parks Museum, was very instrumental in helping us secure multiple interviews in Fort Scott.
Why did you decide to tell these stories now?
A lot of the townspeople are getting older. I was just telling somebody that four people I had photographed or interviewed for the film have died since we started making it. That reinforced the urgency of telling these stories now.
It’s also important for people to be recognized and honored while we can still smell the flowers. Coming to funerals, visiting graves and laying flower arrangements at the funeral home is fine, but I want people to be able to smell the flowers and take it all in while they’re still here.
What is the film about?
The film is about the resilience of these folks and their faith. Faith comes across very strongly. When I start interviewing people, they talk about their faith and how much it plays a part in their daily lives. You’ll hear and see that in the film, and I think that’s important.
Fort Scott has this history, and Gordon Parks spoke about it. The people in the film reminisce about it, but they’re also happy they’ve overcome a lot of it. That’s a testament to, hopefully, where we are as human beings.
Was there anything that surprised you while making the film?
I’m always surprised by people’s honesty and willingness to open up and share so many aspects of their lives.
We interviewed a woman who lost her husband. We had photographed him, and he tragically died, I believe, of a heart attack in 2024. I was editing and thought, “Man, something’s missing.” So, I called her.
I said, “Mrs. Woods, do you ever go to the cemetery?”
She said, “You know, I go there all the time.”
I said, “The next time I’m in Fort Scott, can I come with you?”
She said, “Of course,” and we went.
The honesty, humility and things she shared were priceless. She told me she had refused to move his shoes from beneath the table, where he had left them the last time. The change he took out of his pocket was still on the kitchen table. His hoodie was still hanging on the doorknob.
Then she reminisced about his work. He had a moving company here, so he traveled around the country a lot. She accompanied him on many of those trips. Those kinds of things are priceless.
How would the film appeal to a broader audience?
I thought about that throughout the process. Gordon’s work was universal, and these stories are universal. They may be Fort Scott’s stories, but they’re everybody’s stories, wherever you live. The issues explored in this film are just as relevant in Fort Scott as they are anywhere in this country and around the world.
We interviewed a young man, Trey Sharp, whose grandfather was one of the first Black police officers here. Trey is now a detective, representing three generations of his family’s work. The things he deals with every day are significant. We received permission to do a ride-along, and within five minutes, he had to pull someone over, detain them and search their car.
Trey talked about how these are the sort of things officers constantly have to deal with and be aware of. He also talked about his family and how they worry about him. His mother, every shift that he’s on, monitors it through a police scanner in the house because she can obviously recognize his voice through the radio traffic. It’s a social justice piece, relationships, everything.
Education is another theme. Some of the educators we interviewed talked about coming to Fort Scott in the 1980s to teach, what they had to go through and how they overcame those challenges to build successful careers here.
Gordon Parks was a mentor to you. How did he influence the project, particularly during the editing process?
There was not one aspect of this project in which I didn’t feel his presence. He was there all along the way, and I’m not ashamed to talk about that. It’s real.
Can you give us an example?
Just everything. Every aspect of this, from the filming through the editing, has Gordon’s DNA. Absolutely. Gordon is sitting high and looking low, saying, “Michael, job well done.” That’s all I wanted to happen. That’s it.
'Fort Scott Stories' screens this weekend at the Tallgrass Film Festival. Showings are at the Boulevard Theatre in Old Town, 2:15 p.m. Saturday, and 11:30 a.m. Sunday. For details, visit tallgrassfilm.org.
