William Richardson

Prof. Joseph Elsner guides his protégé Frydryk Chopin through his formative years to early adulthood in Poland. The professor takes him to Paris, where he eventually comes under the wing and influence of novelist George Sand and rises to prominence in the music world, to the exclusion of his old friends and patriotic feelings towards Poland.

Appalachian Genesis, one of the first Appalshop films, was commissioned by the Appalachian Regional Commission to document the state of mind of Appalachian young people in the early 1970s. It presents a vivid picture of the social activism and upheaval that had begun in the 1960s, especially with the War on Poverty. Appalachian youth speak out about the coal industry, the educational system, job opportunities, health care, politics and poverty. The film still resonates today as young people in growing numbers of communities across the country grapple with many of the same structural problems and experiences.