Isabel and I made a trip to Franklin, IN for the 5th annual B-Movie Celebration this weekend. Films showed all day and until well past midnight for 3 days in 3 venues this year, forming an impressive election of budget viewing chooses. Although we missed friday, we spent the night Saturday, and managed to see 7 films.
The main venue was the Historic Artcraft Theater. Built in the 1920’s and remodeled in art deco style in the 30’s it is currently being restored by the cities local non profit group. It is a beautiful example of a single screen art deco theater(seats around 700-800 people), with a modern sound system, and projector making the films look great. The concession stand was very reasonably priced and had the best popcorn I have had in years! It is fresh, and grown locally. The show classic and interesting movies on a weekly basis, so I recommend you check them out.
The Celebration was well organized and like I said had lots to see. Tickets where cheap if you bought a day pass, and FREE if you are a student. Many directors, actors, and producers came, and a couple movie making classes were offered.
We saw: Daughter of Darkness(1970’s vampire fetish flick), Shape of Things to Come(1979, not the HG Wells screen play), The Robot(an Indian bollywood scifi from 2010), Beach Blanket Bingo(1965), Angry Red Planet(my fav, a 1959 scifi with no budget), A scarecrow documentary, and Dragon Crusades HD(2011). Many were 35mm prints and looked great, or horrible in a good way. Films spanned from the 1930’s to present day releases this year, and even included an awards program called the Golden Cob awards.
It was a fun weekend, and we will be sure to go back again next year.
