From the start, those who created Little Rock's River Market District envisioned it as a place that would be about more than restaurants, bars and late-night musical entertainment. They dreamed of a place where people would live, lectures would be delivered, films would be screened and books would be purchased and discussed over cups of coffee.
I try not to use the word "visionary" lightly. But it's a word that can be applied to some of those involved in the evolution of this part of downtown.
Developers Jimmy Moses and Rett Tucker are visionaries, remaining firm in their belief (even though it must have been badly shaken by the Great Recession) that people would call downtown home, buying condos and renting apartments in the projects the two men built.
Bobby Roberts, the recently retired head of the Central Arkansas Library System, is a visionary for deciding that the River Market District would be home for a CALS campus that now includes the main library, the Cox Creative Center, the Arkansas Studies Institute and the Ron Robinson Theater. The campus is a wonderful blend of renovated warehouses and new construction, a model for library systems across the country.
Skip Rutherford, the dean of the Clinton School of Public Service, is a visionary for understanding that a distinguished lecture series--with all events free to the public--could be a centerpiece for keeping his branch of the University of Arkansas System connected to residents of Little Rock and other area cities.
At a time when the state's largest city struggles with violent crime and severe perception problems, downtown moves forward in a slow but steady renaissance that dates back two decades. And what's most exciting for me these days is the fact that a core group of younger Arkansans--people like Jeff Nichols, Spencer Andrews, Amber Brewer, Graham Gordy, Frank Scott and Kathryn Tucker (Rett Tucker's daughter)--are dedicated to taking the downtown revolution to the next level. All of them are involved with the Arkansas Cinema Society, which this week is holding an inaugural three-day event known as Premiere. Crowds began attending parties and screening films at the Ron Robinson Theater on Thursday and will do so through tonight.
Rather than sponsoring a once-a-year bash such as the late lamented Little Rock Film Festival, the Arkansas Cinema Society plans to hold regular screenings at the Ron Robinson Theater. Back in April, Nate Coulter, the man who replaced Roberts at CALS, called a meeting of downtown players to discuss how to use the theater more often. The Arkansas Cinema Society seems to be an answer to his prayers.
Nichols, a 38-year-old Little Rock native, wrote and directed the 2012 movie Mud, starring Matthew McConaughey and Reese Witherspoon. The movie, which was filmed entirely in Arkansas, received good reviews. That was followed by the 2016 release of Loving. Lead actress Ruth Negga was nominated for an Academy Award for her role in the movie.
In a review of Nichols' film Midnight Special, Peter Travers of Rolling Stone wrote that Nichols "already ranks with the best American directors of his generation." When the Arkansas Cinema Society was unveiled this spring, Nichols said: "We hope to bring great films and filmmakers to Arkansas throughout the year as well as support and nurture all of the amazing talent that Arkansas produces." He promised to host three seminars on the craft of filmmaking in the society's first year.
Kathryn Tucker is the society's full-time director and works to carry out Nichols' vision. After graduating from Little Rock Central High School in 1996, Tucker went to the University of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia and earned a degree in fine arts with a concentration in photography. When she left Penn, she headed to New York as an assistant for celebrity photographer Timothy White. Tucker served as a photo editor for Miramax Films from 2002-04 and left to produce an independent feature film titled Loggerheads that was accepted into the Sundance Dramatic Competition in 2005. She's a member of the Directors Guild of America and married to award-winning cinematographer Gabe Mayhan.
The organization's mission statement says the society will "build a film community in Arkansas where film lovers can watch films, share ideas, connect with each other and nurture the new and existing film talent within our state through increased exposure to filmmakers and their art."
Nichols said he was inspired by Richard Linklater's work for the past three decades with the Austin Film Society. "Little Rock and Arkansas don't have anything like that," Nichols said earlier this year. "One of my biggest hurdles as a kid in Arkansas was I just didn't have any connection points with the global film industry."
He said he wants to "create a cinema society that gets people together to watch movies and filmmakers they may not know know about, to not only bring films but filmmakers to Arkansas, to have conversations people can see in front of them in a way that's immediate and tangible."
I've long felt the lectures presented by the Clinton School, the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies and the Old State House are among the top benefits of living in the capital city. We can now add films and filmmaking discussions to that list of amenities. The debut of the Arkansas Cinema Society comes at a time when Little Rock needs all of the positive attention it can get.
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Senior Editor Rex Nelson's column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. He's also the author of the Southern Fried blog at rexnelsonsouthernfried.com.
Editorial on 08/26/2017