Magenta: An Appalshort
Runtime: 16:41An archive is facing major change after a series of climate disasters. Shane Terry of the Appalshop Archive, established in 2002, tries to restore the damaged materials left behind in a historical 1000-year flood, while also passing down the knowledge of how to preserve and maintain the largest Appalachia media collection in the world.
Director - Nik Lee
Nik Lee is a 24-year-old documentary filmmaker from Eastern Kentucky and Central Appalachia. Nik Lee first joined Appalshop in 2019 as an intern for the Appalachian Media Institute (AMI). In March of 2024, Nik was hired as Lead Educator for the Summer Documentary Institute, where she took a lead role in training young interns across the region to learn skills in the art of filmmaking and documentary production. She now works as an Internal Media Coordinator for Appalshop Film. Nik graduated from Morehead State University in 2023 with a double-major in Convergent Media and Legal Studies. Her work has been featured in The Trailblazer, The Daily Independent, Morehead State’s MSUTV, and the Boone Docs Film Festival. In her free time, Nik enjoys writing, playing video games, and engaging in all things spooky. She has a lifelong goal of becoming an author one day.
Directors Statement
When I lost my home in 2022 due to major flooding, the only thing I could think of was rebuilding, and the only other thing I could think of was damage. What did I lose in the water? How could I replace it? How much did it cost?
For the archive, I think a similar mindset is there. How do we reclaim what we lost? How much will it cost to return it? Except, for most of these valuable pieces of Appalachian history, they cannot be replaced—they are delicate memories that cannot be brought back.
My own flood story is tied into Appalshop’s, because Appalshop is also my home. What grief I felt then is felt tenfold in the archive, where a large percentage of our history has been lost forever.
I wanted to highlight the work that the archive staff do on a daily basis, which is a constant and evolving process of preserving, cleaning, maintaining, moving, storing, shipping, moving again, and so on. The archive staff dedicate their lives to preserving what is essentially our culture. Their efforts should never go unnoticed.