Submitted photos Nellie Rose Gundersen Davis, one of the three West Virginians focused on in the documentary ‘O Pioneer’, sits outside her studio, Nellie Rose Textiles in Thomas.

Narrator Kaia Kater plays the banjo in ‘O Pioneer’, directed and produced by Helvetia’s Clara Lehmann and Jonathan Lacocque.

HELVETIA — A locally filmed West Virginia documentary will begin a national film festival tour later this summer, premiering at an event in California.

“O Pioneer”, directed and produced by Helvetia’s Clara Lehmann and Jonathan Lacocque, will premiere at the Cinequest Film & Creativity Festival in San Jose, California. The festival runs Aug. 15-30.

The documentary will also be shown at the 12th annual Richmond International Film Festival in Richmond, Virginia, which runs from Sep. 26 to Oct 1. 

“O Pioneer”, whose title is based on the Walt Whitman poem, “Pioneers! O Pioneers!”, is a documentary film featuring three West Virginians: Nellie Rose Gundersen Davis, a seamstress in Thomas; James Morley, a hospital chaplain in Bridgeport; and Tim Hibbs, a blacksmith and musician in Queens, West Virginia.

“Our films are meant to uplift West Virginian and Appalachian stories,” Lacocque said. “We want to work contrary to outside stereotypes.”

Narrated by lyricist and musician Kaia Kater, a Grenadian-Canadian musician and poet who studied Appalachian music during her time in West Virginia, the film weaves narration with archival footage, poetic vignettes, and dream-like animation.

The film shows Morley, Hibbs and Davis humbly answering their calls to pioneer a way forward through immense personal hardship. The documentary asks viewers to courageously champion the pioneer within.

“We wanted to redefine the term ‘pioneer’ in an approachable way,” Lococque said. “We also wanted to show the strength in the everyday people around us.”

The official synopsis for the film states, “An anthem for the past and a love letter to the future, ‘O Pioneer’ poetically reckons with and redefines the American pioneer. As a blacksmith forges connections, a seamstress hems raw edges, and a hospital chaplain ministers the spirit, three Appalachians endure without repeating the follies of the past.”

Local West Virginians will get a chance to see the film Sep. 30 at the Robinson Grand Performing Arts Center during the Mtn. Craft Film Festival in Clarksburg, which runs Sep. 29-30.

‘O Pioneer’ held a private screening for cast and crew on June 25 at West Virginia Wesleyan College’s Center for the Arts.

After the film festival tour, “O Pioneer” will be shown in local theaters throughout the state. Dates for the showings have yet to be announced. The film will also be available to buy or rent on its official website after the festival circuit.

To learn more about “O Pioneer” and to watch the trailer, visit opioneer.com.