About the Film

IN HICKMAN COUNTY is a homemade quilt. Its flowing style forms a patchwork that pulls together the traditions and current state of life in a rural, Southern Tennessee community. The whole is far greater than the sum of the parts : church, school, civic strife, stubborn individualism, community service -- and banana pudding -- all build a portrait of people and place. Deep family ties to the area drew filmmakers Elizabeth Nadas Seamans (writer Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood) and cinematographer Joe Seamans (National Geographic) to share the ordinary life of Hickman County in its extraordinary beauty and complexity.

Watch the Film

We are convinced that video and film convey direct experience in ways no other medium can.

Few of us get the opportunity to experience life in a small town and the rural countryside that surrounds it.

Our goal in going to Tennessee to make IN HICKMAN COUNTY was to invite our viewers to open themselves up to something surprising.

We offer an experience without narration, voice over, or musical score -- in the hope that our viewers will fully engage with the people and places they encounter.

We invite to you come to Hickman County and abide there for a while.

Who We Are

Elizabeth and Joe Seamans have been making documentaries for almost 50 years.

Joe filmed and directed numerous National Geographic Specials for PBS as well as programs for NOVA. He was director of photography for The Farmer’s Wife and Country Boys, produced by David Sutherland for PBS.

Elizabeth was one of Fred Rogers primary collaborators as a script writer and filmmaker for Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. She has won numerous awards for her films about children and folklife – Conversations in Rhyme -- funded by the National Endowment for the Arts.

In recent years, their work has been devoted to personal projects, including In Hickman County.