LEWISTON — On Friday, Feb. 3, L/A Arts and Bates College will present “In The Blood,” a documentary film illustrating and celebrating the life, skills and character of 19th century Maine lumbermen and river drivers.

“In The Blood” uses film, photography, interviews, sound design and a live musical score to share a history lesson in a contemporary and entertaining format.

A discussion with director/composer Sumner McKane and fellow composer Joshua Robbins will follow the showing at Olin Arts Center, 75 Russell St.

Lumbermen were pioneers who created a self-contained working community in the woods, and on whose backs the state’s economy and history were largely established. They symbolize Maine’s gritty and resilient reputation.

Viewers will be taken into the woodsmen’s rugged environment — into the camp and yards, onto the haul roads, rivers and lakes. With stories and descriptions told by the men themselves, “In The Blood” offers a seemingly personal experience — as if viewers were sitting in camp listening to them.

McKane’s musical score has elements of ethereal soundscapes and textures, country blues, post rock, hopeful melancholia and traditional lumbermen’s melodies derived from Celtic and English folk songs. Melodic guitar and bass join sequences and manipulated loops of percussion — 80 percent of which were sampled from actual woods sounds (leaves rustling, axes, logs rolling, trees creaking and people walking in snow).

“In The Blood” will be shown in Maine Public Broadcasting’s Community Films series. Music from the film has been featured twice on National Public Radio’s and Public Radio International’s nightly music show “Echoes.”

“Echoes” has already selected the “In The Blood” soundtrack as one of its Top 20 Records of 2011.

McKane, a guitarist and composer with a photographer’s mind, is a collector of images. His mental snapshots of trails traveled and times past inevitably find their way into musical interpretations of these scenes.

Besides his writing career and recording original music, McKane has spent the last 10 years playing lead guitar in various country acts from Maine to Tennessee. He is currently touring with the Nashville and Maine-based Don Campbell, who plays more than 100 shows a year.

For more information on “In The Blood,” visit www.sumnermckane.com/.

For tickets, $6, visit www.batestickets.com. For more information, call L/A Arts at 782-7228 or log on to www.laarts.org.