A southeast Iowa writer – and now filmmaker – believes pie is more than just a savory meal or a delicious dessert, so she made a documentary about it.
The film is called “Pieowa: A Piece of America.” Beth Howard, who lives on a farm near Donnellson, directed it.
TSPR spoke with Beth while she was in Los Angeles for the Silicon Beach Film Festival, where Pieowa won the Audience Award for Best Feature Documentary.
“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. 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,” she said.
Pie is not about perfection
Beth, who also does commentaries on TSPR, had never made a film before. She said it’s kind of like making a pie. The baker knows all the hard work and struggles that go into making it. Maybe there are a few missteps along the way.
But when you serve it up, people love it.
“Pie is not about perfection. That’s what I preach. 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,” Beth said.
But she said no one else notices those things. She said they leave the theater feeling uplifted and wanting to make pie.
And that’s what Beth was aiming for.
She spent two years making the film, hoping to spread a message of kindness and generosity. She said no act of kindness or generosity is too small to make the world a better place.
“It doesn’t take much to be kind. It could be just a slice of pie,” she said.
A new challenge
Beth has written four books, three of which are about pie. After completing the latest one, she wanted a new challenge. She had pitched a pie documentary series for quite a few 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,” Beth said. “So 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.”
Now she’s made a film that’s resonating with people.
She called the iPhone an amazing tool for shooting a film, and she found people were more comfortable speaking to her with just the phone in front of them rather than a big camera with a crew.
However, she found editing software to be challenging. She watched a lot of YouTube videos whenever she ran into an obstacle.
She also talked to a lot of filmmakers and asked a lot of questions.
“I had a lot of help,” she said.
Born in Iowa, now back in Iowa
Beth was born in Ottumwa, and her family moved to Davenport when she was 12. Beth’s father loved banana cream pie, which led to her love of the dessert at a fairly young age. She learned how to make pie when she was 17.
In early adulthood, Beth headed to the west coast.
“I said I’m leaving and I’m never coming back,” she said with a laugh.
Beth said she worked a stressful dot-com job in the early 2000s that did not appeal to her. In resigning, Beth told her bosses she just wanted to make pie, and then she went out and did just that.
“When I quit that dot-com job and got a pie-making job in Malibu, they asked what my qualifications were, and because I didn’t have any I just said, well, I’m from Iowa, as if all Iowans are great pie-makers. And I got the job based on that,” Beth said.
She later started the blog “The World Needs More Pie.”
Her husband passed away in 2009, and after visiting family in Iowa in 2010, she decided to return to the state.
“It just felt like it was really peaceful and good for my soul,” Beth said.
She first moved into the American Gothic house in Eldon, where she opened up a pie stand and became known as the pie lady.
“That’s a good thing to be associated with,” she said.
Beth said 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 of pie because it’s a big pie,” she said. “I don’t make it too often. I have no self-control when it comes to chicken pot pie.”
Plenty of chances to see the film
Screenings of Pieowa are scheduled into the middle of next year. They include one at 2 p.m. on Sunday. Sept. 21 at The Capitol Theater in Burlington.
Pie will be served afterward and there will be a Q-and-A session with Beth.
Ticket information can be found on the Capitol’s website.
Beth said she was not expecting such a demand for the film. But it’s a good problem to have. She believes the film’s popularity is due to its positive message.
“I think people are just really hungry for something uplifting, comforting. The nostalgia I think strikes a big chord with people,” she said.
Beth said people come up to her after seeing the film, sometimes with tears in their eyes, and tell her it reminded them of their mother or grandmother.
She hasn’t found many people who don’t like pie, and she’s heard over and over again that church ladies make the best pies.
Beth said the film shows people being kind.
“No act of generosity is too small to make the world a better place,” she said, adding that act can be as simple as giving away a piece of pie.
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