Caroline Camick had the idea to make a documentary about Doraville years ago. But it hasn’t come to fruition until now, and not without a little help.
Along with Lisa Edmondson, Karen Ketchum and Amanda Kazzy Cryer, Camick has been working these past years to make “Made in Doraville,” a documentary film about the small town – made famous in the eponymous song by Atlanta Rhythm Section in 1974 – and all the stories within its borders.
The documentary aims to remember Doraville as it was and explore how it has changed over the years.
“There are so many cool stories that have come out of this town,” Camick said. “Atlanta Rhythm Section, for one, had a studio in Doraville that they recorded at, and a lot of big bands recorded there … The chief meteorologist on 11 Alive is from Doraville, Chris Holcomb. We just have a lot of little stories like that, that we think are unique.”
Camick, Edmondson and Ketchum grew up in Doraville and all went to high school together at Sequoyah High School (now known as Sequoyah Middle School). Camick even taught at the school that she once attended, and has watched firsthand as Doraville has evolved over the years. The General Motors plant at Doraville Assembly is now a movie studio called Assembly Studios. And the demographics of the city have changed from majority white to much more culturally diverse.
Camick said that even though the town may be a little different now, she can still feel the camaraderie and small town spirit in how important the community is to everyone that lives there. In that respect, nothing much has changed.
“We feel like our story is everyone’s story, because we’re so uniquely tight,” she said.
Camick, Edmondson and Ketchum went to high school together, but their stories run back further than that. Ketchum and Camick went to the same elementary school, and Edmondson and Ketchum met playing softball before they entered their high school years. They all have strong connections to the city, and knew that they knew Doraville well enough to tell its story. However, none of them had really dabbled in film before. That’s where Cryer came into the equation.
Edmondson was the one who initially reached out to Cryer, who brought over 20 years of filmmaking experience to the project.
“Amanda has been really helpful, and kind of taken us to the next level,” Edmondson said. “We call ourselves a scrappy group of producers and directors, but I think we play well off of each other. And with Amanda’s guidance, we might actually pull this thing off.”
Cryer is originally from Canada, but the other three women have made her an honorary Doravillian. She said she was moved to do the project from the first time she spoke with Edmondson.
“I was very moved by her commitment and by what she wanted to create,” Cryer said. “For me, when I make content, it has to be something that really moves me. And when I spoke with Lisa, and she shared her story with me, and what the whole premise behind the idea was … I don’t really know how anybody wouldn’t want to get involved, personally.”
The four women all got together in January of this year and started talking about what they wanted the film to look like. As it so often does for independent filmmakers, the issue of fundraising arose.
“We realized we have a lot to do just to raise the money in order to produce this,” Ketchum said. “We need to focus all of our efforts on the fundraising.”
The filmmakers said they have raised almost $30,000. This weekend, they’re hosting a 5K in partnership with the city to help raise a little more. The race will take place at The Assembly Atlanta and is held in honor of the late Chuck Singleton, who was the physical education teacher at the elementary school that Ketchum and Camick attended.
According to Camick, Singleton was also a war veteran who earned a Purple Heart and a Civil Rights activist. She said he was the first African American to teach at the then all-white school, and is a big part of the reason Camick became a teacher herself.
“He ran a phenomenal physical education program at our school,” she said. “He’s the reason I became a P.E. teacher.”
The race will take place on June 29. After the race is over, the filmmakers plan to start getting into the production side of things. The plan is to shoot during the first week of August and be ready for the film festival circuit in 2025.
