Summer Film Festivals in Tennessee

Tennessee may be better known for music and barbecue, but it has plenty to offer by way of the other arts as well. Art museums, live theater, and comedy venues are some of the many options offered to visitors, and Tennessee also has several film festivals for old-time movie and indie-film loving guests, and one great group of films for the kids.

Two big film festivals in Memphis highlight the Tennessee summer film festival season. The first one is The Memphis Film Festival. The Memphis Film Festival, which takes place June 7 - 9, 2007, at the Whispering Woods Hotel and Convention Center, just outside of Memphis in Olive Branch, MS, is an event full of film, artifacts and celebrities. This year the festival celebrates its thirty-fourth year.

During the festival, four film viewing rooms will showcase over one hundred and twenty five different movies and TV shows, with each screen running continuously from ten a.m. until eleven p.m. each day. Memorabilia and merchandise will be available for purchase from dozens of dealers, selling everything from DVDs to old toys. Each day, a Panel of Stars will feature several different celebrity guests. Fans can ask questions and meet and get autographs from their favorite celebrity. Attending celebrities are actors from westerns and shows like Andy Griffith.

The second big Memphis film festival during the summer is the Outflix Film Festival, sponsored by the Memphis Gay & Lesbian Community Center, and featuring films of gay interest. This year's festival runs over two weekends, August 17th through 19th, and August 24th through 26th. This year's films have not yet been selected, but some works shown in last year's festival include Eighteen, starring Alan Cumming and Ian McKellen, and Small Town Gay Bar. Keep watching http://www.outflixfestival.org/ for more information.

If you are on the opposite side of the state, there is no good place to see independent or old films this summer, but there is one great place to see some free ones. The Family Film Festival runs all summer long at the Regal Cinemas at Hamilton Place Mall in Chattanooga. On Tuesdays and Wednesdays, two family films a day are shown in the late morning, and are free to children and parents. Films that will be shown throughout the summer include Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, March of the Penguins, Nanny McPhee, Over The Hedge, Flushed Away, Charlotte's Web, and Happy Feet.

These are just a few of the film festivals that can be found in Tennessee this summer. Check one out if you happen to be passing through on your vacation travels!