Why Old Time?
A film by Chris Valluzzo and Sean Kotz
(scheduled for May 20th, 2010)


Why Old Time? is a positive and celebratory feature length documentary about Old Time music fan culture.

This film focuses on the relationship between the music and its fans, examining why so many folks travel long distances to festivals, why they spend so much time learning songs written decades or longer before they were born and why the musical tradition established hundreds of years ago is being preserved by people today.

Why Old Time? explores the sense of community based around the music and why people gather weekly to play Old Time music and commune with each other form house concerts to huge festivals. The film also address the tremendous wealth of knowledge fans retain on not just a given song, but where it came from, variations of it, and musicians that were known to play it.

In essence, documents both the Old Time music scene as it is today as well as its development over the years। Why Old Time? demonstrates why it is important to preserve this music and share it with younger generations.




FOLLOWING THE SCREENING OF THE FILM, STICK AROUND FOR DISCUSSION FOLLOWED BY LIVE OLD-TIME MUSIC in a tradtiional old-time jam session featuring local pickers.






ABOUT THE FILMMAKER:


Horse Archer Productions was founded in 2005 by Sean Kotz and Chris Valluzzo, two Virginia natives and current residents of the New River Valley. Before forming the company, Kotz taught writing, literature and film at Virginia Tech and Valluzzo completed the director's certificate program at the New York Film Academy and worked heavily in the DC Metro indie scene.

Their first feature film, Hokie Nation, hit theaters in 2007 and propelled the company on to three more documentaries in two years--The Henry Reed Legacy, Why Old Time? and Virginia Creepers.

Future projects include documentaries on Highwoods String Band and pro-wrestler Jimmy Valiant as well as regional television projects.