William Faulkner on his native soil in Oxford, Mississippi (1952)

In November 1952, William Faulkner granted a film crew access to his private life at Oxford for a short documentary about himself. Funded by the Ford Foundation, the film aired on CBS's Omnibus program on December 28, 1952, presented here in five parts. The scripted film re-enacts events from November 1950, following Faulkner's Nobel Prize, through the spring of 1951, including his speech at his daughter Jill’s high school graduation. Footage shows Faulkner at Rowan Oak, his historic home near Oxford, and at Greenfield Farm, where he drives a tractor and interacts with workers. The film also includes brief appearances of Faulkner with his wife Estelle and with notable Oxford figures like druggist Mac Reed, Oxford Eagle editor Phil Mullen – who helped write the script – and lawyer Phil Stone, an early supporter of Faulkner's work.