Virginia Commonwealth University Announces Second Annual Southern Film Festival

By Mike Porter

Virginia Commonwealth University’s second annual Southern Film Festival features a diverse lineup of films based on classic works by Southern writers.

This year’s festival, with a theme of “Screening Southern Literature,” takes place Feb. 25 and Feb. 26. All films will be shown at the Grace Street Theater, 934 W. Grace St., in Richmond. All events are free and open to the public.  

“We really wanted to include some of the finest cinematic adaptations of the works and authors most preeminent to the Southern literary genre,” said Emilie Raymond, assistant professor of history and festival director.

The film “In This Our Life,” set in Richmond and based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Ellen Glasgow, premiered to great local fanfare in 1942 when actresses Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland and Hattie McDaniel came to town for its release.

Fans of William Faulkner will be interested in the rarely seen “The Story of Temple Drake.” Based on the novel “Sanctuary,” the scandalous film prompted calls for censorship in 1933 and is currently not available on DVD.

Concluding the festival, and marking the 50th anniversary of the novel, is the film “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Charles Shields, author of The New York Times best-seller “Mockingbird:  An Intimate Portrait of Harper Lee” will explain how Lee converted the novel into a screenplay and Mary Badham, the actress who played the much-beloved character Scout, will discuss her experiences on the set of the film.  

The rest of the lineup includes the films “The Color Purple,” “Wise Blood” and “A Streetcar Named Desire.” Moderators will introduce and lead discussion for each film.

Schedule of events:

Thursday, Feb. 24

6 p.m. Book reading and signing with Charles Shields at Fountain Book Store, 1312 E. Cary St., Shockoe Slip.

Friday, Feb. 25

4 p.m. “Wise Blood” (1979) Based on the novel by Flannery O’Connor, “Wise Blood” explores the Southern gothic world of religion through the obsessed preacher Hazel Motes, founder of The Church Without Christ.  “A man don’t need justification,” Motes boasted, “if he’s got a good car.”

7 p.m. “In This Our Life” (1942) Based on Ellen Glasgow’s Pulitzer-Prize winning novel, “In This Our Life” dramatizes family betrayal and racial tension in the South. Olivia de Havilland and Bette Davis won accolades for their strong performances as rival sisters, and the film was one of the first in Hollywood to portray an African-American as an intelligent character in a non-menial role, according to a New York Times review after it was released.

Saturday, Feb. 26

10 a.m. “The Story of Temple Drake” (1933) Based on the novel “Sanctuary” by William Faulkner, “The Story of Temple Drake” skyrocketed the author to mainstream popularity. Miriam Hopkins portrays the hedonistic, pleasure-seeking Temple Drake, a young woman who embodies Southern decadence, as well as its demise.  

1 p.m. “The Color Purple” (1985) A historical drama, based on Alice Walker’s popular novel, this film describes the bonding of Southern black women in early 20th-century Georgia.  Strong performances by Whoopie Goldberg, Margaret Avery, and Oprah Winfrey and beautiful visual depictions of the countryside make for an inspirational story about the triumph of the human spirit.

4 p.m. “A Streetcar Named Desire” (1951)  Vivien Leigh plays Blanche Du Bois, a fading Southern belle who tries to salvage the last vestiges of her world of gentility from her animalistic brother-in-law, portrayed by Marlon Brando.  Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Tennessee Williams, the film won four Academy Awards and helped catapult Williams into one of the South’s literary lions.    

4:30-5:30 p.m. Book signing by Charles Shields at the VCU Barnes and Noble, 1111 W. Broad St.

7 p.m.  “To Kill a Mockingbird” (1962) Based on Harper Lee’s Pulitzer-Prize winning novel, “To Kill a Mockingbird” focuses on the 6-year-old Scout, daughter of a white lawyer who defends a black man falsely accused of rape in a Southern town during the Great Depression. Gregory Peck won an Academy Award for his portrayal of Atticus Finch, and Lee declared the film adaptation “one of the best translations of a book to film ever made.”