By Nancy Price
Southside film aficionados, clear your schedules for next week. The 28th Annual Heartland International Film Festival is coming to Artcraft Theatre in Franklin Oct. 15-17.
The Johnson County location is the only venue on the Southside to run movies from the state’s largest and longest-running film festival. “To be the location picked is very exciting for us,” said Dave Windisch, marketing manager for Artcraft Theatre.
Six films will be shown at Artcraft, beginning with The Keeper, Oct. 15 at 5 p.m. The Keeper, a German drama set during the end of World War II, is part of an international program called “Cultural Journey,” a tribute to and celebration of the cinema, culture and cuisine of a specific country. Eight feature films will be shown from Germany this year. Apollo 11, part of this year’s Awards Season Spotlight, follows The Keeper at 7:30 p.m. and takes moviegoers back to 1969, when astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin first set foot on the moon. “I’ve seen Apollo 11; it’s absolutely stunning,” Windisch said.
On Oct. 16, the theatre will show Going Attractions: The Definitive Story of the Movie Palace at 5:30 p.m. The documentary made in the U.S. and Australia celebrates the American cinemas of yesterday, when theaters housed thousands of seats, and exotic and ornate interiors with balconies, lounges and orchestras. Go back in time with Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade at 7:30 p.m., which celebrates 30 years.
When Last We Spoke, a family comedy-drama set in 1966 Texas, plays Oct. 17 at 5:15 p.m., starring Corbin Bernsen, Melissa Gilbert and Cloris Leachman. On Oct. 19 at Newfields, Leachman will receive Heartland Film’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Jump Shot, which shows at 7:30 p.m., concludes all showings at Artcraft with a documentary about Kenny Sailors, creator of the modern-day jump shot in basketball.
A 600-seat theater, Artcraft has a 1940s art deco feel. “Some things will automatically transport you back in time,” Windisch said. “Our popcorn is grown in Johnson County.”
This year’s festival, according to Julia Ricci, senior programmer at Heartland Film Festival, is “our biggest and boldest year yet,” with films that can “inspire, form and educate.
“You feel something when you leave the theater,” Ricci said. “If you’re looking to see something different, there is something for everyone.”
Ticket prices for movies shown at Artcraft Theatre are $7. A limited number of free admission vouchers are available through all Johnson County Public Library branches. For more information, go to historicartcrafttheatre.org/movie-and-events-schedule.
