Lily Keber
I’m a Southern filmmaker based in New Orleans but with roots all across the region. I’m originally from Western NC (yes, my family is safe post-Helene, thanks for asking), went to high school in Savannah and college in Athens, GA. I’ve got family buried across Mississippi and in the Pennsylvania coalfields. I’m self-taught as a filmmaker and still think it’s probably the best way to learn. I interned at Appalshop and view that as a pivotal moment in my journey towards understanding the world.
My first feature length doc Bayou Maharajah, premiered at SXSW in 2013 and won the Oxford American Award for Best Southern Film and Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities’ Documentary Of The Year. I’ve produced for Beyoncé, Arcade Fire, and Preservation Hall. My films range from the federal government’s policy of immigrant family detention, prison conditions in Gaza, culture and food across the South, and lots of things music-related. My second film Buckjumping premiered in 2018. David Byrne saw that film and loved it so much that he wanted to hire me as a director. That’s pretty neat.
I am very excited to be the film curator at Big Ears Festival. I love getting to find and connect excellent work to excellent audiences.
My work has appeared on ARTE, HBO, MTV News, Time, Al-Jazeera English, Democracy Now!, Sundance DocClub, Hulu, Netflix, iTunes, Electronic Intifada and PBS. I am on the Community Advisory Board of WWOZ and am a member of Alternate ROOTS (though my dues are probably overdue). I’m a founding member of the All-Yall Film Collective of Southern filmmakers.
