Plaza Theatre spotlights Georgia film history, showing ‘Deliverance’ and more
Throughout the month of March, the Plaza Theatre will showcase four decades of Georgia’s cinema history with a new screening series.
“Georgia on Film,” as it has been christened, spans 1972 to 2006, a time period before the state bolstered its film tax credit that radically expanded the industry into a multi-billion dollar machine. It’s part of the lead-up to the Atlanta Film Festival, which will celebrate its 50th anniversary this spring.
The first screening, scheduled March 4, is John Boorman’s “Deliverance,” the pivotal film that eventually led then-Gov. Jimmy Carter to create the state’s film office. It is followed by one of Burt Reynolds’ directorial efforts “Sharky’s Machine” on March 10, which follows an Atlanta police officer investigating a conspiracy involving a local politician, and 1984 pure bubblegum musical “Voyage of the Rock Aliens” on March 16. It’s the only film not set in Georgia — instead, it’s in a fictional town called Speelburgh.
The final two entries are “Benjamin Smoke,” a documentary filmed throughout the ’90s in Cabbagetown that highlights the titular musician, drag queen and artist, on March 25, and seminal coming-of-age drama “ATL” on March 31, which stars T.I., Evan Ross and Big Boi, among other recognizable Atlanta personalities.
Gregory Bishop, the creative director of the Plaza Theatre, has had the idea to program the series for a while. He wanted to design the slate to capture a wide range of communities in Atlanta and different formats: from dramas to musicals to documentaries.
It’s rare, especially now, for films shot in Georgia to be actually set in Georgia. But Atlanta, Stone Mountain, Cabbagetown and the Tallulah Gorge are all featured prominently in the series, among other locations.
“It’s a very richly Georgia story, with the exception of ‘Voyage of the Rock Aliens,’ which is set in the fictional Speelburgh,” Bishop said. “It’s almost like you’re watching moments throughout decades of life in Atlanta from various different perspectives, stories, neighborhoods and cities.”
The slate is merely a sampling of the films that shot in Georgia within that four decade span. By the time Bishop finished the lineup, he realized he could put together entire programs of just genre films. If the screenings go over well with audiences, Bishop hopes to continue the series in other variations.
There is a whole lot of history to tell that begins before “Deliverance” and after “ATL.” Georgia entered the movie-making business in 1918 with the silent war film “Over the Top,” which shot its trench scenes at Camp Wheeler near Macon, and has had boom periods as the decades have transpired. The Georgia Film Office has records of more than 2,000 film and television productions in the state, the lion’s share of which filmed after legislators supersized the tax credit in 2008.
“You can see the explosion (of the industry), which in many ways makes the films that were happening before the incentive that much more meaningful and special,” said Chris Escobar, the owner of the Plaza.
About the Author
Savannah Sicurella is an entertainment business reporter with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
