Everything Nac

The success of the initial screening of “Found Footage: Rediscovering Nacogdoches” during the 2016 Nacogdoches Film Festival has led festival organizers and film producers to schedule subsequent viewings to meet public demand.

“Found Footage” features scenes of Nacogdoches people and businesses in 1938 documented on film. The Stephen F. Austin State University College of Fine Arts and Humanities Texas, in association with the Charles and Lois Marie Bright Foundation, championed the effort to restore the forgotten 16mm film, labeled “Nacogdoches 1938.” Discovered at Nacogdoches High School in 1967 but forgotten until a few years ago, the film was digitally restored and viewed in 2014 for the first time in 70 years.

Newly restored and accompanied by comments from today’s local citizens who grew up in the town during that by-gone era, “Found Footage” includes scenes from downtown businesses, including Novel Bright’s Grocery, College Grocery, Navarro Cox Wholesale Tires, Banita Laundry and Dry Cleaning and others, as well as school and university student activities.

The next screenings of the film will be at 10:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. Saturday, April 16, in The Cole Art Center @ The Old Opera House in downtown Nacogdoches. The film is approximately 30 minutes. Director Peyton Paulette and interviewer and producer Brad Maule will attend and be available for questions following the screening. William Arscott, Regents Professor in the SFA School of Art and filmmaking area advisor, is a co-producer.

SFA graduate and filmmaker George Hooker’s eight-minute promotional film “Nacogdoches: The Oldest Town” will also be shown at the screenings.

“Found Footage” was so popular that all of the first 100 DVDs made to sell during the festival were quickly purchased. Film organizers have ordered 500 new DVDs that will be for sale at the screenings.

For more information, call The Cole Art Center at (936) 468-6557.