Plot Summary

"Anything that comes out of the South is going to be called grotesque by the northern reader, unless it is grotesque, in which case it is going to be called realistic..." Flannery O'Connor, 1958. Shy, funny, devout, disabled--words that describe one of the most acclaimed American short story writers of all time. Flannery O'Connor's stories about the southern U.S. have inspired writers, artists and musicians for decades with their dark humor and "gothic" sensibilities. "Flannery" tells the life story of a brilliant, young woman who died before she was forty through the eyes of contemporary writers and artists with cartoons, animations, never-before-seen archival footage and great music. Tommy Lee Jones, Alice Walker, Mary Karr, Tobias Wolff, Hilton Als, Alice McDermott, Bill T. Jones, Lucinda Williams--all share their opinions, their art and their music in this feature-length, NEH-funded documentary. How can people go to church AND commit murder, she wonders...?