{love} visions of the south

wade and i enjoyed a date night to the belcourt theater on friday night to see elia kazan's WILD RIVER.

the belcourt opened its doors in 1925 as a silent film house. it was the home of the children's theatre of nashville after 1931, the grand ole opry between 1934 and 1936 and the nashville community playhouse after 1937. then in 1966, it became the belcourt cinema returning to its original use as a movie theatre. today, the belcourt is the last traditional neighborhood movie house in nashville.

filmed in rural tennessee in 1960, WILD RIVER peaked wade's interest - he loves all things tennessee history. and my interest - i love old movies and date nights! the film serves more as drama than a study of historic events. it is the story of a proud 80-year-old matriarch who refused to leave her land which was to be bought & flooded by the tennessee valley authority in the early 1930s. (wade's great grandparents had land that was also flooded by the TVA.)

it was the kick off to the belcourt's 23-film journey of "thoughtful, authentic portrayals of Southern culture as presented throughout 20th century cinema" - a series called VISIONS OF THE SOUTH. wade and i live just around the corner from the belcourt - though we don't take advantage of it as much as we should!

so glad we found out about the festival - check out the lineup (and message me if you want a date!):