Feature Photo by Ana Teresa Galizes
By Owen James and Cameron Kay
Students attended a screening of The Great Cover Up documentary on Jan. 28 and participated in a Q&A session with one of its creators to learn more about the local music event and the filmmaking process.
Filmmaker and N.C. State professor Jedidiah Gant worked on the project for several years alongside a team before its release on PBS in 2025. The documentary focuses on a charity event of the same name, in which local bands surprise audiences by dressing up as other artists and performing their songs. The event has been held annually since 1999 at Kings in downtown Raleigh.
Gant said he was inspired to create the documentary when the event returned in 2022 after a hiatus caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It was this cultural institution that had been around for 20 years, coming back as downtown was coming back,” Gant said. “We didn’t have a script—we just grabbed cameras and started shooting because we knew something meaningful was happening.”
The documentary features its creator and host, Paul Siler, as well as musician and singer Chelley Godwin, who participated in the event. Throughout the film, Siler shares his experience creating, managing and hosting the event, along with the many memorable performances he has witnessed. Godwin provides insight into how bands prepare to participate, as well as the excitement and nerves that come with performing.
Marti Maguire, chair of the Speaker and Events Committee at Peace, helped organize the event, which was held in the Main Hall conference room. She said she hopes students will gain an understanding of documentary filmmaking while also learning more about a meaningful part of the local community.
“I hope the students who attended enjoyed the music and learned about the filmmaking process,” Maguire said. “It’s also part of our community. As a downtown Raleigh college, it’s important to connect students with the larger community.”
Gant said the project aligned with the portfolio of Myriad, a company he worked for at the time that had a dual mission: producing corporate content for brands such as IBM and Lenovo while also creating documentaries focused on social justice, the arts and community issues. Previous projects included films about coffee farmers in Honduras, veterans coping with PTSD, voting rights and a series titled Tea Time with Alex, which educated audiences about transgender issues.
“This was about music, yes—but also about community, memory and what keeps a city’s culture alive,” Gant said.
Gant noted that much of the footage filmed for the documentary did not appear in the final 26-minute PBS version. The filmmakers initially planned to produce a full hour-long documentary but ultimately scaled it back due to time and funding constraints.
“We filmed far more performances, interviews and history than we could include,” Gant said. “With more time and money, we could have followed multiple musicians instead of just a few. But I’m still proud of the story we told.”
Students also asked about the timeline of the project, which Gant estimated took approximately three years from initial filming to final release.
“In the end, it became a six-month sprint—editing, working with PBS, planning premieres and polishing everything,” he said.
A key point of discussion was the event’s connection to activism. Each night of The Great Cover Up benefits a different charity, ranging from LGBTQ+ organizations to shelters for the unhoused and community legal support groups responding to ICE activity in North Carolina.
“The event is fun, but it’s also quietly political,” Gant said. “All that money goes right back into progressive causes in Raleigh.”