Watch Songcatcher

Songcatcher was directed by Maggie Greenwald. The movie is about a music professor who collects and researches Appalachian folk music. She collects the songs while visiting her sister in the rural mountains in western North Carolina. She visits her sister after being refused a promotion at the university where she works. Dr. Lily Penleric's sister runs a school in rural Appalachia. When Lily gets to know the people of the area, she finds a goldmine of ballads and songs written by the Appalachian people since 1600 and 1700's. She records and transcribes the songs to share with the outside world while she is there. Lily ventures with the help of a talented musical orphan into the isolated Applichian area to collect the songs. She loves the music she hears and the courage of the people that live there. In her quest, she helps the people battle a man trying to steal their land from them. She finds her sister Eleanor is involved in an affair with a teacher at the school. Lily meets a man that is a war veteran and talented musician. After some time she has an affair with him. She continues to change her perceptions about the people around her as time goes on. When two men find her sister Eleanor and her lover in a romantic embrace, they set fire to the school. They destroy their home, school and Lily's recording and notes of the ballads. At this point Lily decides to leave rather than start over again . She leaves with plans to make and sell recordings of mountain music. The film's musical score was written by David Mansfield. He rounded up a team of country music singers mostly women to record traditional ballads. This movie is appropriate for older teens 14 years and older. It has nudity, violence, and sex as part of the content.