Freeman Vines built his first guitar when he was a teenager. Now 82-years-old and battling multiple myeloma, he's desperately trying to make a guitar that can reproduce an elusive sound the instrument made decades ago. The search and his artwork took on even more significance a few years ago when Freeman acquired a stack of lumber from a tree used in the lynching of a young Black man named Oliver Moore. In a sprawling storefront shop in Fountain, a town of 130 souls in eastern North Carolina, Vines lives and hand-carves guitars (as well as other objects) that speak to his lifelong conflict with racism in this region. A portrait of a true fine artist, Freeman Vines has found a way to create while surviving in a complex world.

This film is included in Shorts: Embrace the Music alongside 4 other works. Click here for full program and details.

Tim Kirkman and André Robert Lee