Part of Nashville: A City on Film and Belcourt 100 Seminars
General Admission: $16 | Belcourt Members: $13
*Ticket includes the seminar and a screening of WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? immediately following at 8:00pm.
Our latest Belcourt 100 Seminar, Nashville X-Rated, explores the provocative and transformative history of Nashville’s adult cinema scene in the ‘60s through the ‘80s — when Lower Broadway became home to a cluster of adult theaters showcasing X-rated and pornographic films. At the same time, aging movie palaces and neighborhood theaters like the Belcourt emerged as hubs for independent, foreign and adult-oriented art films, reflecting broader national shifts in film culture. Triggered by the fall of the restrictive Hays Code, the rise of New Hollywood counterculture, and the implementation of the MPAA’s voluntary film rating system in 1968, this era marked a cultural and cinematic turning point — one that opened new creative and controversial possibilities for filmmakers and exhibitors alike. Nashville X-Rated situates Nashville’s theaters within the larger story of evolving cinematic norms, resistance and innovation, and the blurred boundaries between art and obscenity. By tracing how local exhibition practices intersected with national debates over censorship, aesthetics and morality, this seminar reveals how Nashville’s theaters were not just sites of titillation and scandal — but also stages for a changing American film culture.
Presented by T. Minton, Belcourt’s public historian and archivist
WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? | Watch the Trailer
Dir. Mike Nichols | USA | 1966 | 131 min. | R | DCP
Mike Nichols’ (THE GRADUATE, THE BIRDCAGE) explosive directorial debut WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? remains one of the most provocative and critically acclaimed films of the 20th century. Starring Elizabeth Taylor as Martha and Richard Burton as her husband George, a disillusioned history professor, this searing drama follows this middle-aged couple as they draw a younger pair into their volatile psychological warfare during a late-night gathering. Fueled by alcohol, buried trauma and years of resentment, the evening descends into verbal assaults and manipulative games, blurring the line between reality and illusion in a brutal dissection of intimacy, identity and marriage.
This landmark adaptation of Edward Albee’s play was a lightning rod in its time — not just for its raw dialogue and adult themes, but for the way it challenged the boundaries of mainstream cinema. When the film screened in Nashville, it ignited controversy and censorship efforts, thrusting the city into the national spotlight amid growing cultural tensions over film content. Its local reception foreshadowed the battles over exhibition and obscenity that would define Nashville’s adult cinema scene in the decades to follow. As a prelude to this screening, the Belcourt 100 seminar Nashville X-Rated positions VIRGINIA WOOLF as part of the city’s contested, complex and shifting cinematic legacy.
“The screen has never held a more shattering and indelible drama…occasionally, a presentation [gives] the critic the satisfaction of being the servant to a high art. That is the effect produced by WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? —James Powers, Hollywood Reporter (Jun 22, 1966) “In its forthright dealing with the play, this becomes one of the most scathingly honest American films ever made. Its advertisements say, ‘No one under 18 will be admitted unless accompanied by his parent.’ This may safeguard the children; the parents must take their chances.” —Stanley Kauffmann, New York Times (Jun 24, 1966) “Arguing that it was vital to the picture's artistic integrity, [screenwriter Ernest] Lehmann secured special permission from the Production Code guardians to retain the play's strong language and this shockingly free sense of expression doubtless contributed to the film's commercial appeal. Yet, ironically, it shared its haul of 5 Academy Awards with Fred Zinnemann's wholesome Thomas More drama, A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS.” —David Parkinson, Empire Magazine
