Dec 4, 2025 4:00pm PT Billy Porter Joins Documentary Short ‘Freeman Vines’ as Executive Producer (EXCLUSIVE) By Marc Malkin Plus Icon Marc Malkin Senior Editor, Culture and Events marcmalkin Latest Billy Porter Joins Documentary Short ‘Freeman Vines’ as Executive Producer (EXCLUSIVE) 10 minutes ago Lady Gaga, Robert Redford and Prince Photos Being Auctioned Off at Boys & Girls Club of Hollywood Benefit 24 hours ago Indie Drama ‘Above Ground’ to Begin Production, Marks Feature Directorial Debut of Writer and Star Matt Kelsey (EXCLUSIVE) 24 hours ago See All Kristina Bumphrey/Variety Billy Porter has joined the Oscar-qualified documentary short, “Freeman Vines,” as an executive producer. Directors André Robert Lee and Tim Kirkman’s film is a haunting portrait of 82-year-old Freeman Vines, a sculptor and guitar-maker in rural Fountain, N. C., who carves some of his instruments from lumber taken from a tree used in the lynching of a young Black man named Oliver Moore. As Vines faces multiple myeloma and diabetes late in life, the film captures his philosophy, humor and unflinching confrontation with the legacy of racism in the American South.
