Florence is set of new movie premiering at the Austin Film Festival

FLORENCE, Texas – Florence, Texas, is the heart of a new movie premiering at the Austin Film Festival this weekend. It takes place at the Gault School of Archaeological Research.

Perhaps the most remarkable thing about this place is that, at first glance, it’s pretty unremarkable.

A creek divides the site that’s both half woods and half-open prairie. It borders next to quarries and ranches now, but take a closer look, and there is a sharp reminder of the people here first.

Even during FOX 7’s interview, Tim Brown, who is on the school’s board of directors, was picking up stones left and right. Each one had been chipped at, likely by people thousands of years ago.

“Oh yeah, you can’t walk out here without seeing this kind of thing,” said Brown. “This is probably the richest, most well-defined Clovis site in the Americas.”

The Clovis people roamed this land about 13,000 years ago. Their presence today is carved into stone.

“Blades, scrapers, all kinds of little tools that they made out of durable material,” said Brown.

Flash forward to the 21st century, and this site was almost lost.

“The owner had chosen to monetize the site,” said Brown. “He would allow people to pay a fee and come in and dig, and it was completely uncontrolled.”

In comes the main character of this story: Dr. Michael Collins.

“Without Mike, we would not be standing here,” said Brown.

Dr. Collins’ story stood out to movie director Olive Talley.

“Michael Collins overcame one challenge after another,” said Talley. “Everything from weather to money, to financing, to control of the property. He wound up purchasing the property after five years of trying to find public funding.”

And thank goodness he did.

What was under everyone’s feet the whole time would rewrite history books.

“That has produced very strong, compelling evidence of the human presence much earlier than what we refer to as the Clovis culture, which we thought was the first,” said Brown.

Collins found evidence that humans had been here long before the Clovis people.

Instead, a group likely called Central Texas home up to 20,000 years ago.

“And to think that we have a place in Central Texas that is so pivotal to the narrative of the peopling of the Americas, right here, in our own backyard,” said Talley.

This is what Olive Talley’s new movie is all about. 

It’s called “The Stones Are Speaking.”

If we’re quiet enough, they have a lesson to share.

“I hope that the film is a call to action and a call for awareness, not just about the gault site but the overall awareness that cultural sites are important to preserve,” said Talley.

The movie premieres at the Austin Film Festival on Saturday, Oct. 26.

Talley is still hoping to get a contract on a streaming platform for viewers at home.