The Last Saw Shop is an upcoming feature film exploring the rise of logging in Northeast Mississippi through Carra Blythe, who, at 82 years old, owns and operates “Wayne’s Logging Supply” in Iuka, Mississippi.
For over 50 years, Carra kept the books for her husband Wayne’s logging business, and later, logging supply business. When Wayne passed away suddenly in 2008, Carra continued running the supply shop on her own. She has seen the logging industry change dramatically, from small two-man businesses cutting with chainsaws, to large-scale operations with mechanized cutters.
Paper collage animation sample of Carra standing in a cotton field. (right)
When Carra was growing up, there was not a lot of logging going on. Carra grew up on a 60 acre cotton farm, and didn’t know any loggers until she met Wayne. Most people in her community were in farming, and cotton was the main crop produced. With the introduction of tree planting initiatives of the 1940s, 50s and 60s, Mississippi is now one of the most heavily forested states in the US, with forestry and logging among its largest industries.
Through Carra and her customers, the film explores the rise and development of forestry in the US South, now the “woodbasket of the world.”
The Last Saw Shop 