My Great Great Great Uncle Built Churches

Edited and Directed by Christian Jessup, My Great Great Great Uncle Built Churches is a personal story about a member of his family: Bob Childress. That much I gathered right from the beginning. Bob Childress was the founder and builder of the famous "Rock Churches" of Southwest Virginia, all established between 1919 and 1954. In 2022, Buford Jessup and his family set out to visit all seven of his great uncle's churches. This documentary short follows that day.

Accompanied by a constant, very moving piece of music also composed by Jessup, we were immediately off to a good start. The film is entirely shot in Black & White, a really great touch in my opinion. And oftentimes, the Rock Churches at the center of this story are framed so perfectly, and really allow the viewer to understand and take in their beauty. However, the cinematography is not always consistent and does suffer from some pretty significant over-stabilization issues that lead to some bouncy footage mixed in throughout.

A lot of these inconsistencies would have been more forgivable had there been more to the short. My biggest gripe with this story is that I don't learn much. Aside from a title card at the beginning and end with a few blips about Childress, there is little to be learned about the man or his family. There are a few audio tidbits sprinkled in as well, but still, nothing really to be learned. This does unfortunately lead to ten minutes of very repetitive visuals as the family drives from church to church and does visit every last one. This makes the short feel more like a sizzle reel as opposed to a traditional documentary.

All that being said, I still had a great time with My Great Great Great Uncle Built Churches. It was a very relaxing 10 minutes for me as I got to marvel at the beauty of these Churches and enjoy a wonderfully soothing score to accompany them. If it succeeded anywhere, it really did make me want to drive down to Virginia and see them for myself and I consider that a major win for Jessup and his family.

6.5/10
- DJ Ford