Jole Productions

When Lee & Joy Pennington began Jole Productions in 1990, their concept was to use as little and as small equipment as possible in order to be able to get into places and capture stories that otherwise might be missed. Throughout the world, many of the “old things” and “old ways” were disappearing. It was on those things that soon would be lost that they focused their attention.

With not much more than an 8mm video camera, they made their way into the jungles of Papua New Guinea where they filmed their first piece, In Search of the Mudmen (1990).

“It was very exciting, “ the couple recall. “It felt like stepping back into the stone age and being able to get on film rituals and scenes that were thousands of years old.”

“The footage is pretty bad compared to today’s standards,” says Lee laughing, “but it’s still a piece we’re both fond of. In a sense it was a disappearing moment caught in time. We’re proud of that even if the piece is a bit shaky and fuzzy.”

                                                The Papua New Guinea Mud Men

The South Pacific called them back on several occasions and resulted in Petroglyphs of Polynesia (1992) and Sinoto: Polynesian Legend (1993).

“I think,” says Lee, “it was during this time we began to sense the overwhelming force of synchronicity.

For example, we were on the island of Raiatea and were looking for someone who could talk about petroglyphs. Not only did we find someone, we found a person, Johnny Brotherson, who could read the petroglyphs, something archaeologists said no one could do. Johnny took us into the mountains,  and we filmed petroglyphs that fewer than twenty people in the 20^th Century had even seen.”

Shark and turtle petroglyphs in Polynesian

“Also, on the island of Huahina we were trying to find someone who could talk to us on camera about the marae, the outdoor temples of the ancient Polynesians.

So who shows up but the famous archaeologist, Yoshihiko Sinoto, the very person who had reconstructed all the maraes on the island! Sinoto spent four days going with us around the island and explaining his work.

Lee Pennington & Yoshihiko Sinoto

“We often go into a project not knowing where it will lead us, but we always have a feeling the right things will show up at the right time. So far, that’s been the case.”

In 1995 Jole Productions released Wales: History in Bondage—a piece that focuses on the English destruction and cover-up of Welsh history, including some rather clear evidence that Wales’ most famous native son, King Arthur, was real and not some imaginary figure.  According the Welsh records, Arthur was the brother of another “legendary” figure—Prince Madoc. In 1997 Jole Productions released Prince Madoc: Fact or Fiction.

1997 took the Penningtons to South America where they filmed Secret of the Stones, an exploration in search of Viracocha, the bearded stranger who came from the sea and brought civilization to the South Americans. 

At Tiahuanaco, in Bolivia, the Penningtons found evidence that a great civilization flourished there 17,000 years ago!

                                        Incredible stonework of Sacsayhuama

Following the lead of Thor Heyerdahl, their work in South American pointed them toward Easter Island, perhaps the most remote inhabited piece of land on the planet.

Researchers still haven’t been able to solve to everyone’s satisfaction just how the natives transported the megalithic statues around the island.

“We made two film trips to Easter Island,” says Lee, “one in 1997 and another in December-January at the Millennium change.

“We spent so much time at the archaeological sites that the moai actually felt like they had become our friends.”

Mysterious Easter Island was the subject of their 2001 documentary, Eyes that look at the Sky.

Not all of the Penningtons’ documentaries have been done on exotic places.

Their second production was The Gospel Ship, an interview with Lee’s mother who was 92 years old at the time. “She was born in 1900,” says Lee. “She lived through the entire 20^th Century and had witnessed the coming of automobiles, airplanes, radio, television, computers. Her insight on so many things was just exceptional.”

They also did three documentaries on a disabled West Virginia coal miner who had moved to Eastern Kentucky in the 1950’s and had some ancient, mysterious stone works on his land. Verne Spratt was the subject of: Verne Spratt: Keeper of the Stones (1992) and Cliffs of Mystery (1992) and Good Roads, Good Water: The Life of Verne Spratt (1996).

Tenacity has also been a part of the Penningtons’ experience. They spent ten years and drove more than 10,000 miles filming The Mound Builders (2001).

“At the time,” says Joy, “we were teaching. So we took weekends and summers to go do the filming” (Lee and Joy taught nearly forty years in Kentucky before retiring from the University of Kentucky Jefferson Community College in Louisville in 1999). “The Mound Builders is pretty special to us,” says Lee, “not only because of the amount of time we spent on it. But people tell us it’s the most comprehensive thing ever done on the subject.”

Emerald Mound, the second largest in America, Natchez, MS

In producing a documentary, the Penningtons always do extensive research.

 “That’s just part of our method,” says Lee. “We read hundreds of books and articles and visit museums and talk with people. By the time we actually put the piece together, we’ve generally got enough information for a half dozen or more documentaries.”

One such research project took them high in the mountains of North Georgia where a thousand foot long stone structure has for years baffled professionals and amateurs alike.

 Who built the wall and when, and what was its purpose, have long been the subject of speculation.  Some say the wall was built by Indians; others say it was built by Europeans—in particular, by a group of Welshmen led by Prince Madoc.  The Cherokee simply say the wall was built by a “moon-eyed” people. 

The Penningtons made several trips to the wall and actually stayed on Fort Mountain to film and study it.

Their research led to a major discovery as to what the wall is and what was the wall’s purpose. In 2005 they completed The Serpent Fort: Solving the Mystery of Fort Mountain, Georgia, a documentary that answered some major questions concerning the wall.

In 2006 they finished The Depot Museum, a walking tour of Fort Payne’s unique piece of history (done exclusively for the Ft. Payne, AL Depot Museum), They also completed Tunnel of Time, a tribute to Marion Dahm, a grassroots Viking researcher who spent more than half of his life gathering evidence to prove his hypothesis.

What are the Penningtons working on now?

“For the past six years we’ve been researching and filming a piece called, SEAFARING STRANGERS: Vikings in America.

“We think there is ample evidence to place Norsemen into the interior of the continent long before Columbus.”

Already the couple have spent several months filming in the upper Midwest and other parts of the U.S., one summer filming in Scandinavia (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Greenland) and 28 days during the past autumn (2006) filming in Newfoundland and Labrador.

“We think we have some very strong evidence for the Viking premise,” says Lee.

Lee Pennington at Hvalsey church in Greenland

When will the piece be finished?

 “The project is much greater than we originally anticipated,” says Lee.  We’ve already spent more time on this piece than any we’ve done except The Mound Builders. 

“At first we thought we’d have one 50 minute piece.  Now it looks like we’re going to have three 50 minute segments.  The Viking project has kind of taken on a life on its own.”

As usual, the Penningtons have other irons in the fire—for example, a projected film concerning the ancient copper mining that took place on Isle Royal and in the UP of Michigan.

“We’ve been researching the copper mining for a couple of years and have done some filming. The more we get into it, the more exciting it becomes.”

DOCUMENTARIES PRODUCED

In Search of the Mudmen, 1990.
The Gospel Ship, 1991.
Verne Spratt Keeper of the Stones, 1992.
Cliffs of Mystery, 1992.
The Ticking Lizard, 1992.
Petroglyphs of Polynesia, 1992.
Sinoto Polynesian Legend, 1993.
Out of the Way Places: Cutlass Bay Club, Cat Island, 1994.
Wales: History in Bondage, 1995                                                                                                               Good Roads, Good Water: The Life of Verne Spratt, 1996                                                                       Prince Madoc: Fact or Fiction, 1997                                                                                                                
Secret of the Stones, 1998
Stones That Whisper, 1998
 Easter Island's Hotel Gomero: A Family Affair, 2000
The Mound Builders, 2001
Eyes That Look at the Sky: the Mystery of Easter Island, 2001
Tell City: The First Fifty Years, 2003                                                                                                           The Serpent Fort (Solving the Mystery of Fort Mountain, GA),  2005                                                          The Depot Museum: Fort Payne’s Unique Piece of History, 2006                                                          Tunnel of Time, a Tribute to Marion Dahm, 2006                                                                                                                                                                                                              

VIDEOS AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE

Secret of the Stones @ $26.00 plus $4 S & H ($10.00 international)

The Mound Builders @ $28.00 plus $4 S & H. ($10.00 international)

Eyes That Look at the Sky: The Mystery of Easter Island @ $28.00 plus $4 S& H. ($10.00 international)                                                                                                                                 

The Serpent Fort (Solving the Mystery of Fort Mountain, GA) @ $24.00 plus $4 S & H ($10.00 International)

Tunnel of Time, a tribute to Marion Dahm @ $24 plus $4 S & H ($10 International)

make check payable to:
Jole Productions, 11905 Lilac Way, Louisville, KY 40243
Phone 502-245-1629
Joleproductions@insightbb.com