After being denied a promotion at the university where she teaches, Doctor Lily Penleric, a brilliant musicologist, impulsively visits her sister, who runs a struggling rural school in Appalachia. There she stumbles upon the discovery of her life – a treasure trove of ancient Scots-Irish ballads, songs that have been handed down from generation to generation, preserved intact by the seclusion of the mountains.
With the goal of securing her promotion, Lily ventures into the most isolated areas of the mountains to collect the songs and finds herself increasingly enchanted – not only by the rugged purity of the music, but also by the raw courage and endurance of the local people as they carve out meaningful lives against the harshest conditions. It is not, however, until she meets Tom – a handsome, hardened war veteran and talented musician – that she’s forced to examine her motivations. Is the “Songcatcher,” as Tom insists, no better than the men who exploit the people and extort their land?
Songcatcher is a 2000 drama film directed by Maggie Greenwald. It is about a musicologist researching and collecting Appalachian folk music in the mountains of western North Carolina. Although Songcatcher is a fictional film, it is loosely based on the work of Olive Dame Campbell, founder of the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, North Carolina, and that of the English folk song collector Cecil Sharp, portrayed at the end of the film as professor Cyrus Whittle.
Songcatcher (2000)
Directed by: Maggie Greenwald
Starring: Janet McTeer, Aidan Quinn, Michael Davis, Michael Goodwin, Jane Adams, E. Katherine Kerr, Emmy Rossum, Pat Carroll, Stephanie Roth Haberle
Screenplay by: Maggie Greenwald
Production Design by: Ginger Tougas
Cinematography by: Enrique Chediak
Film Editing by: Keith Reamer
Costume Design by: Kasia Walicka-Maimone
Set Decoration by: Marthe Pineau
Art Direction by: Molly Mikula
Music by: David Mansfield
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sexual content and an intense scene of childbirth.
Distributed by: Lionsgate Films
Release Date: January 25, 2000
Visits: 45
