Watch the trailer for “Freeman Vines”
For decades, 82-year-old Freeman Vines has been hand-carving guitars in hopes of replicating a sound that captivated and still haunts him. The guitars range in style from more traditional to fully abstract using a variety of wood — including lumber from trees once used to lynch Black men. Now battling multiple myeloma and suffering from diabetes, Freeman lives and works in a small storefront shop in rural Fountain, North Carolina, still in pursuit of the elusive sound, surrounded by his tools, materials, and other objects that speak to his lifelong conflict with racism in this region. FREEMAN VINES is the story of a true fine artist who has found a way to create while surviving in a complex world.
SEE THE FILM
Florida Film Festival (Orlando, FL) } - Sat. 4/12, 11:30 AM @ Regal Winter Park Village (Theater B); Fri, Apr 18th, 4:45 PM @ Enzian Theater
RiverRun Film Festival (Winston-Salem, NC) } 4/17, Reynolds Place Theater, 4PM
Filmfort (Boise, ID) } Fri 3/28, 1:00PM, Boise Centre East - Room 430B
ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS
Gill Holland (The Group Entertainment) is a Spirit Award nominee for Producer of the Year and has produced over 150 narrative features, documentaries, music videos, and short films. He runs The Group Entertainment, a NYC - Louisville, KY based film production company dedicated to making inspiring and both socially and culturally relevant (and entertaining) films in a collaborative environment, as well as sonaBLAST! Records.
Co-directors André Robert Lee and Tim Kirkman first met while working at Miramax Films in the 1990s.
André Robert Lee is a Filmmaker, Keynote Speaker, Writer, and Educator. He has committed his life to building an army of change agents. He wrote, directed, and produced the autobiographical documentary, THE PREP SCHOOL NEGRO and embarked on an international outreach workshop tour with the educational version of the film with thousands of workshops at high schools, colleges, gatherings, and conferences worldwide. André’s process includes Many Things; NYC Public Schools, The Ford Foundation, Miramax Films, Urbanworld, Film Movement, Diana Ross, BET, Paramount TV, Universal, PBS, HBO, Sundance, Picturehouse, NPR, CNN, and Wharton.
Tim Kirkman’s debut feature DEAR JESSE, received Emmy, Gotham, GLAAD and Spirit Award nominations and was named Best Documentary by the Boston Society of Film Critics. He wrote and directed the Sundance hit LOGGERHEADS; and LAZY EYE (Netflix); He also directed the features THE NIGHT LARRY KRAMER KISSED ME and 2ND SERVE, and produced Joanna Gleason’s THE GROTTO. Recipient of an Alfred P. Sloan Award, Tim’s script BLESS YOUR HEART was named one of the “Ten Best Unproduced Pilots of the Year” by OutLoud and was an official selection of the NY Television Festival.
LtoR: Tim Kirkman, Freeman Vines, André Robert Lee, during production of FREEMAN VINES in Fountain, NC, 2023.
FREEMAN VINES Co-Directors André Robert Lee (left) and Tim Kirkman.
André Robert Lee, co-director, FREEMAN VINES
Tim Kirkman, co-director of FREEMAN VINES
ABOUT FREEMAN VINES
Freeman Vines was a self-taught luthier and sculptor born in Greene County, North Carolina in 1942. He died in March 13, 2025, at the age of 82. Vines worked as a sharecropper, auto-body repair man, and luthier, and gained widespread recognition through the 2020 release of Hanging Tree Guitars, a book produced in collaboration with Music Maker Foundation. Following the book’s release, his works were featured in group exhibitions at the Turner Contemporary (UK) and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond. His solo exhibit Freeman Vines: Hanging Tree Guitars, toured the country from 2020 to 2024 and included installations at the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art and the North Dakota Museum of Art.
Music Maker Foundation is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization based in Hillsborough, NC that tends the roots of American music by meeting the day-to-day needs of the artists who create it, ensuring their voices are heard, and giving all people access to our nation’s hidden musical treasures.
