"A film that started out to be a 10 minute short became a 44 minute Southern documentary classic. It was shown in its first year over 100 times by the filmmaker throughout the South. It was the keynote film for the Margaret Mead Film Festival at the Museum of Natural History in N.Y. It won top honors in all the major non-theatrical film festivals when it first appeared in 1980. It is still shown today throughout the South in Museums, public libraries, schools and universities. However, in 2002 it was discovered that the 16mm printing elements for this Southern classic had deteriorated, leading to a campaign to preserve and restore the film. Patrons of the film classic contributed funds that enabled the NEA film preservation grant and the digital restoration of IT’S GRITS."
Folkstreams - It's Grits link