SONGCATCHER

“Bioscope” time again at Bluestockings. This time with a fictitious drama by film-maker Maggie Greenwald set in the 1910s and loosely based on real events where a musicologist discovers ancient Celtic songs being sung by tribes in the secluded mountains of Appalachia, near where settlers had first arrived in the Americas.

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? Written by Sujit R. Varma

Songcatcher will be screened on August 26 at 19h30 for 20h00. Entry R20 (Dinner R50 by pre-order only). Bluestockings is situated at Dan Pienaar Road, Kloof. Bookings with Narene on 083 659 3628.