KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — In 1960, a film premiered with a story that explored the tense relationship between families in East Tennessee and the Tennessee Valley Authority's work to buy land and build dams as part of the New Deal. It was named "Wild River" and was directed by Elia Kazan.
More than 60 years later, the film is still held dear in some parts of East Tennessee. So much so that Allison Inman put together a documentary exploring Bradley County's celebration of the 50th anniversary of the film. That documentary will be shown on July 23 at Central Cinema, with the director appearing for a question-and-answer session.
The documentary is named "Mud on the Stars: Stories from Elia Kazan's Wild River." It explores how the creation of the film gave movie roles to residents while Kazan and his crew lived with the locals, impacting the local economy in exchange for the realism Kazan's films are known far. It also discusses racial attitudes on-set and off-set.
The Tennessee Archive of Moving Image and Sound is helping host the event. It is a part of the Knox County Public Library and provides access to early archives of film, documenting East Tennessee's cultural history.
Two short films from Inman will also be shown — "Carthage House of Beauty" and "Hi Tech Service." Her documentary was named after a novel by William Bradford Huie, which the film was partially based on.
The event will be free, according to Central Cinema. The documentary will be shown at 4 p.m. on July 23 at the movie theater.
