John Cohen

The High Lonesome Sound

John Cohen

John Cohen, founding member of the ‘50s folk troupe the New Lost City Ramblers, started making films in order to bring together the two disciplines he was heavily active in: music and photography. His first film, The High Lonesome Sound, is a love letter to Appalachia and features the amazing banjo picker Roscoe Holcomb as the anchor for this gem of cultural anthropology.

Q'eros: The Shape of Survival

John Cohen

Robert Gardner, Caitlin Fitzgerald

Exploration of the way of life of the Q’eros Indians of Peru, who have lived in the Andes for more than 3,000 years.

The End of an Old Song

John Cohen

Dillard Chandler, Lloyd Chandler

John Cohen, founding member of the ‘50s folk troupe the New Lost City Ramblers, started making films in order to bring together the two disciplines he was heavily active in: music and photography. The End of an Old Song brings us to North Carolina, and demonstrates the power of old English ballads sung with gusto while soused in a saloon.

Sara and Maybelle

John Cohen

A rare filmed performance of the two titular members of the Carter Family.

Musical Holdouts

John Cohen

An expansive survey of American musical subcultures that steadfastly refuse to be blanded by mainstream consciousness.

Post-Industrial Fiddle

John Cohen

Jerry Morrell

Explores the importance of music-making in the life of a pulp mill worker in rural Maine.

Visions of Mary Frank

John Cohen

Window in to the vision of Mark Frank's artistic work.

Pericles in America

John Cohen

This musical portrait of immigrant clarinetist Pericles Halkias and the Epirot-Greek community explores the aspirations and ambivalences of Greek-Americans. Moving between Queens, New York and northern Greece, it presents the traditional music of Epirus, showing how the music unites the Epirot community around the world. The film defines America not as a melting pot, but rather as a place to make a better living. The Epirots who earn their living here have their hearts planted firmly in the mountains of Greece.

Dancing with the Incas

John Cohen

Cathy Stoops

Documentary about the most popular music of the Andes -- Huayno music -- and explores the lives of three Huayno musicians in a contemporary Peru torn between the military and the Shining Path guerrillas.

Choqela: Only Interpretation

John Cohen

This provocative and profound film documents the Choqela ceremony, an agricultural ritual and song of the Aymara Indians of Peru. By offering several different translations of the proceedings, the film acknowledges the problems of interpretation as an inherent dilemma of anthropology.

Gypsies Sing Long Ballads

John Cohen

Scotland’s Gypsies have lived outside mainstream society for more than 500 years. Although some of the “Travelling People” still live by the sides of roads, most live today in houses and are under pressure to abandon their culture. This film celebrates their traditional music, especially the long unaccompanied British ballads that date back hundreds of years and have been handed down by memory through the generations.