CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW)- Legendary musician Woody Guthrie, and the side of the folk singer’s life that is not known to many, is the subject of the final film to be shown at the 39th annual Virginia Film Festival. 

“Dust Bowls and Jewish Souls,” a documentary by Steven Pressman, tells the story of Guthrie’s integration into the lively Jewish culture of Manhattan in the 1940s, by interspersing the tale of his mother in-law, the eminent Yiddish poet and songwriter, Aliza Greenblatt. 

Pressman did not think that his filmography, which has thus far focused exclusively on stories from Jewish-American history, would not include a story about the Oklahoma native Guthrie. 

“I had absolutely no idea that there was any Jewish story whatsoever to be told about this guy from Okima, Oklahoma,” Pressman told Cville Right Now. “Once I discovered this part of his story, I thought that there was a great opportunity to make this film about this side of Woody’s life and music.” 

The second act of the film takes place following Guthrie’s ascent to stardom with his seminal song “This Land is Your Land,” and as a champion of displaced refugees due to the dust bowl in the 1930s.  As World War Two began, Guthrie’s anti-fascist songs, along with developing a romantic attachment to Greenblatt’s daughter Marjorie, gave the legendary musician, what Pressman called, “soulmates, artistically and politically”, in Greenblatt. 

“They had all these things in common,” Pressman said. “They swapped lyrics back and forth, she was influencing him and Woody was influencing her, despite coming from very different backgrounds, a tiny little town in Oklahoma, or a shtetl in Eastern Europe.” 

Guthrie’s time in New York helped bring together the struggles of American and Jewish refugees in the turbulent wake of the Second World War and helped strangers understand one another through the commonalities in their experiences.  

Pressman will be present at the screening on Sunday evening, alongside his co-producer and life partner, Lisa Stark, who has served as co-producer on both of his previous two films.  The two met when Stark attended a screening of his first film “50 Children: The Rescue Mission of Mr. and Mrs. Kraus.”  

“We certainly have clicked as cinematic partners,” Pressman said.  “It’s just been a wonderful, personal and professional partnership with the two of us.” 

Both Stark and Pressman are former journalists, with Stark being a correspondent for Al-Jazeera and the PBS News Hour.  

Pressman’s 2022 effort, the Levy’s of Monticello, about the family that owned Monticello following Thomas Jefferson’s death, was shown at the 2022 Virginia Film Festival, and he profoundly enjoyed his first experience in Charlottesville. 

“It was a revelation,” Pressman said.  “Sitting there in that gorgeous theater with a packed audience. For me, that was a special moment.” 

“Dust Bowls and Jewish Souls” will be screened on Sunday evening, beginning at 8:30 p.m., at Violet Crown.

Pressman and Stark will participate in a Q&A session moderated by UVA’s Jodie Childers.