The Kentucky Theatre Documentary

After Wednesday’s class, my research group and I gathered to watch a documentary we discovered about the Kentucky Theatre.  While the film was just short of half an hour, we have all been struggling to find sources, so finding it was like finding a gold mine.  Upon watching this film, it gave a rather extensive history of the theatre.  It did provide good information on the struggles the theatre has faced over the years, such as de-urbanization, civil rights issues, financial struggles, and the 1987 fire. 

A big issue this film brought into light was censorship.  After it was reopened, the Kentucky Theatre had some problems with government interference.  They attempted to show an X-rated film but charges were brought upon them for doing so.  They did not overly advertise the film and did not even have posters for it up in the theatre.  Once the local government banned the showing, it went to the media.  This was the greatest advertisement.  A worker from the theatre said that people began buying tickets for the film and not even going in to see it.  They did it merely to show their support for the theatre and protest government censorship.  This is the age-old debate of what the government should and should not be allowed to interfere with.  It is one I personally find very intriguing. 

Overall, in my opinion, this source was about half and half in terms of usefulness.  It gave a lot of information that I could gain by simply looking on the Kentucky Theatre website, which I have already done on multiple occasions.  At the same time, it provided minor facts that I had no previous knowledge of what so ever.  I wish it would have gone more in depth on these, but it provided me with some specific ideas to look for in other sources.  For me, the strongest aspects of this film were the interviews. They were extensive and contained a wide variety of people.  Also, they were interactive.  For example, instead of just sitting down and talking to the projection manager about the equipment, they were in the projection room and he was able to show them what he was talking about. 

This documentary left me with many new questions about the Kentucky and about film as a whole.  Again, I wonder about the racial issues.  How were ticket sales affected considering the Kentucky Theatre did not even have a black seating area?  In addition, how did the Kentucky’s censorship case affect other theaters even outside of Kentucky?  Finally, is the Kentucky Theatre currently struggling financially?

Source:  The Kentucky Theatre.  Dir. Ari Palos.  2003.  Dos Vatos Productions. VHS. 

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