Arquivo

This film is an immersion into the sounds and folk dances in the U.S., and an adventure through the paths traveled by the forerunners of American country music. Filmed in the mountains of North Carolina, set in the year 1907, Songcatcher tells the story of musicologist Lily Penleric, a woman ahead of her time. Overlooked in a promotion at the university, inspite of her qualifications, she rebels and decides to change the focus of her research completely. Lily travels throughout the isolated region of Appalachia (Tennessee), where she discovers the treasure of her life, ancestral songs of Irish and Scottish origin. Swept away by her find, she begins to record all she hears and is nicknamed “Songcatcher”. Lily becomes involved in the delicate issues that are distressing to the farmers, such as the struggle against powerful and unscrupulous coal mines. In addition, another complicating element is to close in on her life: local musician Tom Bledsoe, who at first accuses her of exploiting the musicians in the region, but who eventually falls in love with her.