Nashville: A City On Film

Nashville’s queer film story hides in plain sight — creators, stories, and cinemas that, while long overlooked, reveal a rich legacy of expression, resistance and culture. NOTE: Your seminar ticket includes a film ticket to DINAH EAST immediately following at 8:00pm.

When movie star Dinah East unexpectedly dies, the coroner publicly outs her, triggering a media frenzy that complicates her legacy. Through a series of flashbacks, we discover Dinah’s full story and gain deeper insight into her remarkable and complex life — with a generous dose of classic beefcake on the side.

Our next Belcourt 100 Seminar, Nashville in Hollywood’s Golden Age, explores how local actors and filmmakers — from the historic stage of the Belcourt Theatre to Hollywood sets — shaped American film. Spanning the 20th century, this seminar uncovers Nashville’s surprising ties to cinema history, from early Pathé films to major studio productions. Highlighting careers from bit parts to Oscar wins, it reveals how the city’s theatrical roots and venues like the Belcourt served as launchpads and inspiration for generations of artists. Includes a screening THE YEARLING (35mm) immediately following at 12:00pm.

In a segregated Mississippi town, a teenage boy (played by Nashvillian Claude Jarman Jr.), his lawyer uncle and an elderly woman combine forces to prevent a miscarriage of justice and try to clear a black man of a murder charge. Based on the 1948 novel by William Faulker, and featuring a groundbreaking performance by pioneering African-American actor, Juano Hernández.

This spirited WWII-era musical follows two producers staging a chaotic all-star charity revue. The film features rare musical turns from Bette Davis and Ida Lupino among others, and marks Dinah Shore’s screen debut. A Vanderbilt student and Belcourt stage alum, Shore’s breakout success connects Nashville’s theatrical community to Hollywood, where morale-boosting wartime spectacles were a star-making opportunity.

Part occult thriller, part road-action horror, RACE WITH THE DEVIL follows two couples whose RV trip turns deadly after witnessing a ritual murder. Hunted by a rural Satanic cult, their escape unfolds in nerve-rattling 1970s style. Co-written by Nashville’s Wes Bishop, the film is quintessential Southern exploitation cinema. With Peter Fonda and Warren Oates, it showcases Nashville’s unexpected influence on 20th century horror and underground genre filmmaking.

Harold Lloyd plays an eager college student whose quest for popularity leads to comic misadventures — and a legendary football finale. Co-starring Tennessee native Jobyna Ralston (see also: WINGS), one of silent Hollywood’s most prolific actresses and a longtime Lloyd leading lady, the film is a pinnacle of physical comedy. Played during Belcourt’s first era as a silent cinema, it reflects both early Hollywood charm and Tennessee’s contributions to film history, with a restored score by Carl Davis enriching its timeless appeal.

WINGS follows two small-town friends turned WWI pilots entangled in a love triangle and tested by war’s brutality. Famed for its groundbreaking aerial realism, it became the first and only fully silent film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. Tennessee-born Jobyna Ralston adds emotional depth as Sylvia Lewis, linking this cinematic milestone to her home state and capitol, where her films, including THE FRESHMAN, headlined Belcourt’s early silent-era programming.

Our next Belcourt 100 seminar focuses on the period between 1927 and 1958, when the Belcourt Theatre transformed from silent movie house to a hub for Nashville’s first professional community theater groups. Beyond the Footlights explores how this era shaped local performance culture, nurtured future film and television talent, and cultivated a lasting audience base. Drawing on archival research, the seminar reveals how Belcourt's stage-era legacy helped define Nashville’s artistic identity — and laid the groundwork for its evolution into a cornerstone of American cinematic history. Includes a screening of MARTY immediately following at 12:00pm.

In a Depression-era Mississippi town, a radiant yet restless Southern belle’s romance with a railroad official defies her domineering mother. Adapted from Tennessee Williams’s play, the film was co-written by Nashvillian Fred Coe, whose theatrical roots lie in Belcourt’s playhouse era. A moody portrait of longing and repression, it embodies Southern theatrical tradition and Nashville’s mid-century cinema arts culture and community.