White Lightnin'
title: "White Lightnin'" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["vice-films-films", "uk-film-council-films", "momentum-pictures-films", "2009-films", "british-drama-films", "films-shot-in-croatia", "films-set-in-appalachia", "2000s-english-language-films", "2009-british-films", "english-language-drama-films"] topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Lightnin'" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::data[format=table title="Infobox film"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | White Lightnin' |
| image | White_lightnin.jpg |
| caption | Theatrical poster |
| director | Dominic Murphy |
| producer | Sam Taylor |
| Mike Downey | |
| starring | Edward Hogg |
| Carrie Fisher | |
| Muse Watson | |
| writer | Eddy Moretti |
| Shane Smith | |
| cinematography | Tim Maurice-Jones |
| editing | Sam Sneade |
| runtime | 92 minutes |
| studio | Vice Films |
| UK Film Council | |
| Film and Music Entertainment | |
| Mainframe Productions | |
| The Salt Company International | |
| distributor | Momentum Pictures |
| released | |
| country | United Kingdom |
| language | English |
| budget | $2 million |
| :: |
| name = White Lightnin' | image = White_lightnin.jpg | caption = Theatrical poster | director = Dominic Murphy | producer = Sam Taylor Mike Downey | starring = Edward Hogg Carrie Fisher Muse Watson | writer = Eddy Moretti Shane Smith | cinematography = Tim Maurice-Jones | editing = Sam Sneade | runtime = 92 minutes | studio = Vice Films UK Film Council Film and Music Entertainment Mainframe Productions The Salt Company International | distributor = Momentum Pictures | released = | country = United Kingdom | language = English | budget = $2 million '''''White Lightnin'''''' is a 2009 dramatic film directed by Dominic Murphy and written by Eddy Moretti and Shane Smith. It stars Edward Hogg, Carrie Fisher, Muse Watson. Inspired by the life of Jesco White, an Appalachian mountain dancer, |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/white-lightnin-dominic-murphy-92-mins-18-1793714.html |title=White Lightnin' (review) |work=The Independent |first=Jonathan|last=Romney |date=27 September 2009 |access-date=9 September 2010}} it was shown at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. |url=http://history.sundance.org/films/5688 |title=White Lightnin' |work=Archives |publisher=Sundance Institute |access-date=9 September 2010}}
Plot
Jesco White (Edward Hogg) is the last of the West Virginia mountain dancers. He is the son of D. Ray White (Muse Watson), the greatest mountain dancer of all time. Ever since Jesco was a child, D. Ray tried to keep him on a straight path—one that would put him on the right hand of the Lord. Dancing was just one way to keep Jesco from losing his soul. But from a young age, there was temptation drawing him away from D. Ray, away from the dancing. There were the voices in his head, tormenting him. Maybe that is why Jesco loved to get high.
Hooked on sniffing gas, glue, lighter fluid, and airplane cement, Jesco was constantly finding himself in trouble with the law. He landed in the reform school more than once, and it was here that he spent most of his adolescence, left to endure the horror of the voices.
Years after his time in reform school, Jesco had made the best of staying true to his daddy's word. He tried to stay as straight as he could, and used the dancing to do so. But the devil has his ways too, and soon Jesco was back to his old vices. On his way around the south, dancing and performing in whatever local dives he could, Jesco met the woman of his dreams—four-foot three-inch Enid Carter (Carrie Fisher). Jesco renames her Percilla. An off-beat pair, the two managed to keep all their wickedness inside the family.
Long and Davie—the two men responsible for dragging D. Ray years earlier behind their pickup until he was dead, are released from prison because of a trial error. It was as though God were testing Jesco again, tempting him with the taste of revenge. And so this temptation is satisfied, and Jesco got the revenge he craved, brutally torturing and murdering the two. After accidentally killing the officer who comes to arrest Jesco, he takes to the woods. Jesco hid himself in the cabin deep in the West Virginia hills previously inhabited by the preacher, whose voice Jesco constantly hears in his head. Jesco encounters God, cutting and chopping himself until he dies to expiate himself of his sins.
Cast
- Edward Hogg as Jesco White
- Owen Campbell as Young Jesco White
- Carrie Fisher as Cilla
- Kirk Bovill as Long
- Muse Watson as D. Ray White
Gallery
File:Muse Watson.png|Muse Watson (pictured in 2009) played the protagonist's father D. Ray White File:Carrie Fisher 2013-a straightened.jpg|Carrie Fisher (pictured in 2013) played Cilla File:Kirk Bovill.jpg|Kirk Bovill (pictured 2009) played Long
Production
White Lightnin* was filmed with a $2 million budget. Although the story takes place in West Virginia it was mostly filmed in Croatia, though additional shooting was done in West Virginia.
Reception
*White Lightnin' *received positive reviews from critics receiving an 81% based on 16 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.
Awards
- Golden Gateway of India Award 11th Mumbai Film Festival 2009
- "Golden Hitchcock" at the Dinard Festival of British Film, 2009{{cite web |url=http://www.festivaldufilm-dinard.com/index.php?pj=172&rub=48 |title=Palmares 2009 |trans-title=2009 Awards |publisher=Festival du Film Britannique de Dinard |access-date=26 August 2010 |archive-date=10 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110710235516/http://www.festivaldufilm-dinard.com/index.php?pj=172&rub=48 |url-status=dead
- Fantasia Festival "Jury Prize for Best First Feature"{{cite web |url=http://www.fantasiafestival.com/2009/en/news/release.php?id=92 |title=A record breaking 13th edition of the Fantasia Festival |publisher=Fantasia International Film Festival |date=31 July 2009 |access-date=26 August 2010 |archive-date=29 December 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091229235745/http://www.fantasiafestival.com/2009/en/news/release.php?id=92 |url-status=dead
- British Independent Film Awards Most Promising Newcomer for Edward Hogg
References
| access-date = 2013-03-12
References
- Variety]]''. Retrieved 9 September 2010.
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