Odessa to be featured in Amazon documentary
Sep. 8—The City of Odessa will soon be known for more than its legacy football team and oilfields. The city will be featured in the third season of Amazon Prime's The Story of Art in America documentary.
Director Christelle Bois and her crew plans to meet with various Odessa artists in May 2023 for a documentary that will be released in early 2024, said Pierre Gervois, the executive producer for Legit Productions in Brooklyn, New York.
The filming of the series will coincidentally be the same week of Odessa's Mural Fest, during which five murals will be painted in downtown Odessa, said Randy Ham, Odessa Arts executive director.
"I'm very proud of this," Ham told the Odessa City Council Tuesday afternoon. "It shows how effective our public art program is. It shows the attention it's getting nationwide. It shows the attention it's getting in our own city and we will have something to show the entire world and our community about our community's investment in art. I'm very, very proud of that."
Odessa will be one of 10 Texas cities featured in Season 3; Bois and her crew will spend the entire month of May in Texas, Gervois said. The other cities will be announced in November.
Season 1 featured Santa Fe, New Mexico; Coeur d'Alene, Idaho; Phoenix; Great Falls, Montana; Yolo County, California; Everett, Washington; Sheridan, Wyoming; Yountville, California; Casper, Wyoming and Seattle.
Season 2, which is in post-production, will feature the Carolinas, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana and Florida, Gervois said.
In discussing Season 3, Gervois said Bois wanted to challenge stereotypes.
"If you live in New York City, or if you live in Europe or in Asia, and you're a cultural traveler, you might want to consider going to the United States, going to New York City or Los Angeles or Chicago. You might think about Texas as a place you go for a business meeting, not necessarily to see art, and that's what we want to change," Gervois said. "With all of the discussions we're having with Texas cities, we see how important is art in so many cities in Texas and we want to celebrate that and show that."
In researching possible locations, Gervois said he started out with the Texas Commission on the Arts and then found himself on the Odessa Arts website.
"Immediately, I was like, 'Wow, this city, they take art very seriously. They're having a lot of events in music, sculpture, painting,'" Gervois said. "So I am interested and I want to learn more, so I talk with Randy Ham. We talk about Odessa and we decided to include Odessa."
While here, Bois will interview four or five artists in their studios and in front of their public art pieces, Gervois said.
"I know she also wants to interview with historians and people who can give a coherent perspective on the role of art in the city," Gervois said. "What is the soul of Odessa? What is the DNA of the City of Odessa? We want to give a voice to artists so they can tell us 'Here is the work I do. I'm painting. I'm doing sculpture; I'm doing dance.' Here is how we can also tell the story of Odessa. What is the dialogue between an artwork and the community."
Originally from France, Gervois said he lived in Shanghai for 10 years, producing a luxury arts and travel magazine in Mandarin for Chinese people interested in traveling to the United States. He emigrated to New York in 2013 and began producing an English language arts and travel magazine.
In 2018, his company decided to expand into documentary film-making, he said. Bois, too, is from France.
Despite the stereotypes, Gervois said a large majority of French people love American culture.
Season 1 of the documentary was well received and it's his wish Season 2 and Season 3 will also encourage people to visit the featured cities and support the arts by purchasing artwork, Gervois said.
"We're really very happy to be able to achieve that," he said.
