Coming Soon! My Ozarks Episode 14: Building Presence

In West Plains, Missouri, Crockett Oaks, III and his wife Tonya are restoring a deeper sense of belonging through art, memory, and community. As third-generation caretakers of the local Black cemetery and stewards of the historic Lincoln School, they are transforming once segregated spaces into places of healing—and bringing Black history to life through bold public art in a predominantly white rural small town.

Episode 14 won Best Documentary Series at the Detroit Trinity International Film Festival. It was also an official selection at the International Black Film Festival in Nashville, the St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase, and Building Bridges on Screen: Documentary Stories of Place in the South at the Creative Placemaking Summit in Memphis. The film is finishing its festival run and will be streaming soon.

From Documentary to Narrative: Soaring Together

Soaring Together: A Tuskegee Airmen Story is Ozark Vitality’s first narrative film. It is inspired by the true partnership between Tuskegee Airmen James Shipley of Tipton, Missouri, and Harry Stewart Jr. of Queens, New York. We first planned it as a documentary. The project started as a short documentary with Harry Stewart providing a first person account of his service with James Shipley. After Stewart passed away at age 100, we developed it into a narrative film to honor both men’s legacy.

Audiences have responded strongly. The film won Best Narrative Short by a Non-Veteran at the Military and Veterans Entertainment Awards in Los Angeles. It was an official selection at festivals in Detroit, Nashville, Sacramento, and St. Louis, and an award nominee in Detroit and Nashville. The response has shown us how far a narrative film can carry these histories, and we hope to make more alongside our documentaries.

Soaring Together has its final in-person screening on Sunday, December 13, at 1:30 pm at Soldiers Memorial Military Museum in St. Louis, during the Third Annual Captain Wendell Pruitt Celebration of African American Military Service. It will be released digitally in 2027.

A film by Zachary Scott Clark. Presented by Ozark Vitality in Collaboration with Opportunity 1888 Foundation. Major funding provided by Missouri Humanities. Inspired by the biographies Soaring to Glory and Together as One. Starring Jason J. Little as James Shipley and Zachary Scott Clark as Harry Stewart Jr. Filmed, Edited & Sound Designed by J.T. Ibanez. Assistant Editor, Titles & Graphics by Quinsonta Boyd. Written by Ken Turner and Zachary Scott Clark. Produced by Meigan Alicia and Zachary Scott Clark. Executive Producer Tami Hale.

Catch up on episodes of our award winning series My Ozarks

ALL EPISODES NOW STREAMING AT MYOZARKS.ORG