KDSN RADIO News
Acclaimed film ‘Pieowa’ documents Iowans’ love of baking, eating pies
A southeast Iowa woman has made the transition from writer to filmmaker and believes pie is more than just a savory meal or a delicious dessert, so much more that she made a documentary about it.
Beth Howard, who lives on a farm near Donnellson, directed the film called, “Pieowa: A Piece of America.” Earlier this month, Howard’s documentary won the Audience Award for Best Feature Documentary at the Silicon Beach Film Festival in Los Angeles.
“It was never really my strategy to enter film festivals, but then I just went ahead and entered a few just to see what it was like, and then I won,” Howard says. “I won Best Food Film at the San Antonio Film Festival in July, so I’m like, oh, well, maybe my film is better than I thought it was.”
This is Howard’s first film, and she compares it to making a pie, as there’s plenty of hard work that goes into the process, and even with a few missteps, when you serve it up, people love it.
“Pie is not about perfection. That’s what I preach,” Howard says. “I watch the film. I’ve seen it 200-some times. I still see shots where I go, oh, I wish I would have done something different there or used different footage.”
Audiences don’t seem to care though, as she says people leave the theater feeling uplifted — and wanting to make pie. Howard has written four books, three of which are about pie. After completing the latest one, she wanted a new challenge and says she pitched a pie documentary series for years, but no one bit on the idea.
“I just kept hearing, ‘No, we want a baking competition,’ or ‘We want a celebrity host,’ and it’s like, no, it’s neither of those things,” Howard says. “Part of the impetus of making this film was, I wanted to make a proof-of-concept, and I wasn’t going to let the gatekeepers stop me.”
In her travels, Howard says she hasn’t found many people who -don’t- like pie, and she repeatedly hears that church ladies make the best pies. Of course, she also bakes pies and one of her favorites is chicken pot pie.
“I don’t make it very often, and when I do, my partner Doug and I, we polish off half of a giant pie in one sitting. Believe me, that’s a lot pie because it’s a big pie,” Howard says. “I don’t make it too often. I have no self-control when it comes to chicken pot pie.”
Screenings of “Pieowa” are already scheduled into the middle of next year, with showings over the next few weeks in: Pocahontas, Leon, Okoboji, Red Oak, Mount Vernon, and Fairfield. At most sessions, pie is served afterward along with a Q-and-A with Howard.
She believes the film’s popularity is due to its positive message, saying, “People are just really hungry for something uplifting, comforting. The nostalgia strikes a big chord with people.”
(Richard Egger, Tri-States Radio)
