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Weintraub's Appalachian films to get wider audience

Caption: Filmmaker David Weintraub interviews Chief Harold Hatcher of the Waccamaw Indian People for a recent film project. [CONTRIBUTED PHOTO]

By Lightning Reports, Published: October 11, 2021

David Weintraub, the Hendersonville-based filmmaker of more than 40 documentary films, has signed a deal with PBS to distribute four of his feature length films to public television stations around the country.

Produced in conjunction with Weintraub's Center for Cultural Preservation, the films include "Call of the Ancient Mariner" (sea turtles and human culture), "A Great American Tapestry: The Many Strands of Mountain Music," "Guardians of Our Troubled Waters" (the river heroes of the South) and "They Who Overcame" (how Appalachian people overcame pandemics, famine and floods.)

“My focus has always been to show my films through community screenings to cultural institutions, schools and churches," Weintraub said. "That gives me the opportunity to discuss the issues my films raise and help folks better reconnect with history that’s often misrepresented in popular culture. But I can’t reach everyone that way, so I’m excited that in addition to regional PBS stations picking up my films (as they’ve done for more than a dozen years) as many as 300 additional stations around the country will now broadcast these films. It's a wonderful validation of the power of Southern Appalachian culture.”

Weintraub’s films will begin their national run at the end of 2021 and beyond. Check local listings for their release in your community. To support the Center’s work and its mission to preserve the living history of Southern Appalachian communities, visit SaveCulture.org or call (828) 692-8062.