PADUCAH — The Paducah Historical Preservation Group and Maiden Alley Cinema are working to bring a new film festival to Paducah, which focuses on Black film history and artists.
McCorry-Smith said they are still looking for artists and writers to fill up the venue, and urges those interested to reach out to her.
The Black Film & Filmmakers Festival will be held on Aug. 30 at Maiden Alley Cinema, organized by the Paducah Historical Preservation Group Inc. The festival will host 13 films as well as panels with artists and filmmakers and a book sale for local writers. Rhonda McCorry-Smith, president of the Paducah Historical Preservation Group, said this year’s event is the test run for a larger annual Paducah film festival.
Rhonda McCorry-Smith is president of the Paducah Historical preservation Group.
“We have had this idea for over a year, and we’re just finishing up the execution of it,” McCorry-Smith said. “Our reason is we’ve seen a few other film festivals in Paducah, and it being a UNESCO city, we thought we could add to the community and to the culture of our community by adding this venture.”
The 13 films scheduled for the festival range from kids films, documentaries, short films and feature length movies. The festival is split into five blocks for each category, with the fifth and final block being a historical feature of Oscar Micheaux’s “Body & Soul.” Micheaux, who was born in Metropolis, Illinois, was the country’s first Black filmmaker, and his movie celebrates its 100th anniversary this year.
Other movies on the menu include the documentary “Driving the Green Book,” directed by Mike De Caro and based on the book of the same name by Alvin Hall, who is slated to attend the festival. The festival also shows two movies by Kentucky director T’Shombi Basemore, “A Perfect Blemish” and “Eight-Teen.” McCorry-Smith also said the festival would include a showing of two films made by film students from Fern Creek High School in Louisville.
The Paducah Historical Preservation Group and Maiden Alley Cinema are working to bring a new film festival to Paducah, which focuses on Black film history and artists.
Along with movie showings, festival attendees can meet artists and filmmakers for a discussion of their craft. In attendance will be Michael Mcbride, a professor of art at Tennessee State University, to talk about animation and illustration. There will also be panels to talk about making documentaries and feature length films.
McCorry-Smith said she also wanted the festival to serve as a venue for local artists and writers to share their work with the community. McCorry-Smith said the group is still looking for artists and writers to fill up the venue, and urges those interested to reach out to her.
“It’s more than just the film festival. We are looking for artists and writers to sell their books and art around the Market House Square on that day as well,” McCorry Smith said. “So it’s kind of a cultural festival.”
McCorry-Smith said this festival has been in the works since March. It is done in partnership with the Kentucky BIPOCU Filmmakers Association, a Louisville-based nonprofit which advocates for people of color in the film industry. If successful, she said they may look to make the festival an annual event, stretching over the course of 3 to 4 days.
She said the festival provides a chance to help educate the community on Black history and film, and provide representation for those communities on screen.
“I’m looking forward to educating the community, and I think they’ll come out and support and it’s not just for African Americans, it’s for everybody,” McCorry-Smith said. “I think everybody will get something that they will learn that we’re more alike than we are different.”
Tickets to the event are available on Eventbrite. Tickets for the first four blocks can be bought separately or bought together as a day pass, tickets for the showing of “Body & Soul” are sold separately.
The event will be held from 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. with an after party at 9 p.m. at Maiden Alley Cinema. For more information on the event or to buy tickets, visit the website.
