Back in 1970 I was making a documentary as a PBS TV special on young filmmakers who used 8mm film - a completely new breed of creative amateur filmmakers. The filmmaker who made this 16mm movie, John Earl McFadden, won an award at a filmmaker conference in New York City at Fordham University.
You can see a large portion of my documentary with other young filmmakers here - https://youtu.be/Wyd-SSqmSMw .
John Earl McFadden was an Black filmmaker who directed and shot this short film in 1968, "A Memory of John Earl". The film reenacts a real-life incident where a Black teenager, portrayed by McFadden himself, confronts abusive treatment from a white storekeeper in a rural Southern town and faces a gun threat. McFadden claims the story to be completely true and happen to him.
My search to find out what happened to him - Records indicate that a John Earl McFadden was convicted in December 2006 by a Virginia state jury for multiple offenses, including robbery and firearm violations, resulting in an 88-year prison sentence. This individual filed several appeals and habeas petitions, all unsuccessful. In 2016, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit denied his motion for authorization to file a successive habeas corpus application.
It's unclear if the filmmaker and the convicted individual are the same person, as available information doesn't confirm this connection. His only known film is this one -“A Memory of John Earl" from 1968.