Reeves: a Home for Music / U.S.A. / Louisiana Premiere

Reeves: a Home for Music is a documentary that follows the people of a former tobacco and textile town in North Carolina as they transform an abandoned 1940s movie theater into a new music venue. Against great odds, musicians, artists, and community leaders take it upon themselves to usher their sleepy town into a brave new era that celebrates their rich Appalachian folk and music scene in whole new way.

Director's Bio

Michael Lippert is an award-winning director and editor. He has worked on several major commercial campaigns and multiple documentary and narrative films that have screened all over the world. His latest film, Reeves: a Home for Music, is a documentary that follows a former tobacco town as it tries to reinvent itself through its rich musical heritage.

Director's Statement

For me, Reeves: a Home for Music tackles change. As I watched this old movie house in my wife's home town being turned into an exciting new listening room a few years ago, I couldn't help but think about the change it would bring; that this transformation would have a dramatic domino effect on the quiet, unassuming town around it that used to be known for tobacco fields and textile mills. And I wanted to be part of it.

The thing that would reveal itself was a deep sense of Appalachian folk tradition, and the need to house and foster a sacred art for future generations (along with all the other great music in the area). But how do you change and preserve at the same time? And how do you keep the spirit of a small town alive while letting it flourish in a hip new venue? I would later be reminded we have always done this; we adapt. And humans have always expressed their truest selves with music, but we find different ways of doing it. Repurposing the Reeves would be the perfect marriage of shifting tides and a deep tradition that was always there.