It's impossible to separate Appalachia from the famous images of its poor. The dirty-faced, silent children. The hollow-cheeked women and men.

        America discovered them through journalists who swarmed the region in the 1960s. The images brought a measure of relief: Lyndon Johnson launched the War on Poverty from a front porch in Letcher County, Ky., and millions of dollars poured into the state for roads, health care, education and housing.

        But the attention came at a price. Some Appalachians were angered by the journalism, because it focused exclusively on the bad. Even today, stereotypes built upon those images persist in Cincinnati, which had to pass a law banning discrimination against Appalachians.
       

Tension examined

        A new documentary examines this tension between the journalists and their subjects with eloquence and fairness. Stranger with a Camera has its Cincinnati premiere on April 22 — part of a 30th anniversary celebration for Appalshop, the Letcher County arts and media center.

        Appalshop's own history is entwined with the anti-poverty movement. The pictures that scarred the region's psyche in the '60s also gave birth to a means of redress: A workshop where young people from the mountains would be trained to tell their own stories.

        Appalshop has since produced dozens of films and videos as well as music, radio and theater.

        Its films include Long Journey Home, about Appalachian immigrants in Cincinnati and other cities. In one scene from that film, cars headed to Eastern Kentucky for Thanksgiving are shown bumper-to-bumper on southbound I-75.

        An estimated 34 percent of Greater Cincinnatians are of Appalachian origin, which makes Appalshop's work all the more important here.

        “In some ways, I believe Appalachian culture is extra strong in urban environments, because people have had to hold on so tight to who they are and where they come from. They become even more Appalachian,” says Debbie Bays, a southeastern Kentucky native who lives in Port Isabelle, Ohio.
       

"Stranger' telling

        Stranger with a Camera marks a new and welcome level of sophistication for Appalshop. With its resistance to overbearing commentary, the center has made many films that preserve traditions like quilting and chair-making without finding much dramatic tension. Stranger finds the drama without sacrificing truth.

        Director Elizabeth Barret, an Eastern Kentucky native, narrates the story of Hugh O'Connor, a Canadian film-maker who was shot and killed in 1967 by a Letcher County man who didn't want his dilapidated property photographed.

        Mr. O'Connor's daughter and colleagues testify to his integrity, while news clippings and interviews provide context for the murder.

        Ms. Barret uses the incident to explore her own conflicted feelings: Sympathy for her people and disgust with lopsided portrayals, yet respect for a journalist trying to bring attention to economic injustice.

        After all, Ms. Barret now has a similar career — one that was made possible, in no small part, by all those pictures of Appalachian poverty.

        Stranger with a Camera will be shown at 7:30 p.m. on April 22 at the Cincinnati Museum Center. For information on other events, visit www.appalshop.org/voices.

        Karen Samples can be reached at 859-578-5584 or ksamples@enquirer.com.

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