"I've snuck backstage at nearly every concert I've attended since I was 15 years old, and it was in the spirit of that kind of 'backstage-pass' that I wanted to approach A SONG FOR YOU" - Keith Maitland (Director/Producer).
Keith Maitland (Director/Producer) An Emmy-nominated director of feature documentaries, Maitland and his team at Go-Valley immersed themselves in the 40 years of Austin City Limits music history. At the same time, they embedded with the Austin City Limits production team to capture behind-the-scenes, backstage, rehearsal, and performance moments with the incredible artists who graced the ACL stage in Season 40 to create the ultimate fans’ digest of the longest running music program on TV. As a live music fan, Maitland couldn't have asked for a greater opportunity to capture the energy and magic of the live music experience and the untold history of an American music institution.
2016 marks the release of two feature docs from Keith Maitland. Both A SONG FOR YOU: THE AUSTIN CITY LIMITS STORY as well as TOWER, a feature documentary about the 1966 University of Texas tower shooting will premiere at the 2016 SXSW Film Festival. His last film, THE EYES OF ME, a year-in-the-life of four blind teens, premiered at SXSW in 2009, broadcast on PBS' Independent Lens and was honored with a Barbara Jordan Media Award by the State of Texas. Maitland is a director of documentary features, commercials, and TV series; his credits also include 7 seasons with NBC's LAW & ORDER as an assistant director. Keith is a graduate of the University of Texas, the Director's Guild of America Trainee Program and the PBS Producer's Academy.
Sarah Wilson (PRODUCER/CAMERA) returned to her hometown of Austin, Texas after nine years of studying and working in New York City. A documentary and commercial photographer as well as Director of Photography for documentary films, Wilson's clients include the The New York Times Sunday Magazine, Time, HGTV, The Atlantic Monthly, Texas Monthly, Mother Jones among others. Prints from past personal projects have been acquired by the permanent collections at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, The Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas, and the Lishui Photography Museum of China. Current projects include “Our Desired Future,” a look at the tenuous state of Texas ground water, and “Deep Time: An artist’s journey; sifting through the stratigraphy of paleontology and family.” Sarah Wilson is currently developing new documentary and narrative projects with her husband, Keith Maitland.
Susan Thomson (PRODUCER) spent over 12 years as a media consultant in Dallas, Los Angeles and London, with roles in strategy, operations and distribution at Warner Bros., Sony Pictures, Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Really Useful Group", and the BBC. Susan co-founded and co-produces FilmMatters, a dialogue that focuses on the use of film to encourage social change. FilmMatters has been programmed within festivals and as a stand-alone symposium. She holds a BBA from the University of Texas. In addition to A SONG FOR YOU, Susan is a producer for TOWER.
Hillary Pierce (COORDINATING PRODUCER) After several years working in the film and television industry in her native North Carolina, Hillary began her documentary career in NYC at Maysles Films under the tutelage of Direct Cinema pioneer Albert Maysles. While earning her MFA in Documentary Film at Wake Forest University, Hillary assisted faculty member and Kartemquin filmmaker Peter Gilbert teaching Visual Storytelling. She produced and directed THE ONE WHO BUILDS, a documentary about Dr. Omer Omer, once a Sudanese refugee, now an American citizen who is paying it forward as the director of a refugee resettlement organization in the American South. The film won Best Short Documentary awards at both Kansas City Film Fest and Boston International Film Festival and is currently on a university screening tour. Now based in Austin, Texas, she writes and produces non-fiction projects, joining Go-Valley in 2014. In addition to A SONG FOR YOU, Hillary is a part of the producing team for TOWER.
Austin Reedy (EDITOR) is an Austin, TX based editor, who has worked on several independent films and television series that have shown on PBS, A&E, Discover, History and TLC. Reedy also edited TOWER, directed by Keith Maitland.
