Now some four plus years in the making, Miss Nancy Minds Their Manners, is targeted for completion by summer '09. The project has received press this past fall in Metro Magazine, and also has been awarded grants from foundations interested in the subject and message of the documentary. These funds are vital, greatly appreciated and are helping us get the level of expertise that will help us finish our documentary in the manner we feel it deserves..

Do good manners really matter?  The film explores the delightful and quirky etiquette teachings of Miss Nancy, a 79 year old southern character, who embraces life and other people in ways that have to be seen to understand.  Project Director, Martha Daniel, shot for the past four summers behind the scenes of Miss Nancy's renown summer etiquette camps for young children, formally called "House Parties for Young Ladies and Gentlemen".

The project's story has evolved over the past four years. Interesting new insight adds layers and depth to the charm and entertainment of Miss Nancy and all the children.  With only a few more interviews to complete, Martha and Creative Director, Caroline Paxton, are focused now on editing and completing this film.

Why Donate to this Film?

Miss Nancy and documentary
featured in September Issue
of Metro Magazine
(click magazine)

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Film Editors Join Our Team

Cara Biasucci  is our Story Editor.  She received a Master of Fine Arts in Film and Video Production from the University of Texas at Austin, and a BA cum laude in philosophy and English literature from Bowdoin College. In 2000, Cara founded Firefly Films LLC with a focus on documentaries that entertain and promote social and environmental awareness. As a writer, producer, director, and editor, Cara’s work has been shown on public television in the United States and abroad, on cable networks including Discovery Times and HGTV, and in museums such as the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Cara is the recipient of grants from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Liberace Foundation, and Women in Film/Dallas. She currently lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. 

David Morley is our On-Line Editor. He has over ten years in television post and is extremely proficient in many editing systems and software including various AVID systems, Chyron, Photoshop, After Effects, and Deko. David comes from Los Angeles, where the majority of his post production experience was in editing for network and cable television including The Disney Channel, Paramount Studios, and Warner Brothers.    

Miss Nancy Minds Her Manners is an earnest and heartfelt documentary film that follows 74 year old "Miss Nancy" Rascoe through the engaging task of teaching manners to children in her 200 hundred year old home in rural Hertford, NC. It's a five day and four night summer etiquette camp like no other and the mix of activities are all rich with Miss Nancy's true Southern gentility and grace from an era gone by.

The candid and often rambunctious campers help reveal Miss Nancy as a most charismatic Southern lady who's both charming and captivating. With abundant patience, and unknowing humor, she and her vibrant camp staff share not only the finer technical points to correct etiquette, but the underlying meaning and purpose of it all as well.

When summer ends, Miss Nancy also minds the manners of third grade students at an area public middle school in the fall. Her efforts with these students give them skills and confidence in special etiquette classes where they learn dining manners, telephone etiquette, introductions and correspondence.

People from the South have always prided themselves on good manners, and Miss Nancy's endearing spirit and zest for life move beyond traditional stereotypes of formality and social class often associated with etiquette. Through her religious and character values, Miss Nancy gives the children a better understanding of how positively good manners affect others, as well as themselves. Southern hospitality shines through all the valuable lessons that the children can take with them throughout life.