Athens, Ga. – Patterson Hood, of Drive-By Truckers fame, and friends will perform at the Farm 255 Restaurant on Thursday, Feb. 5 at 10 p.m. to raise money in support of Robert Osborne’s Classic Film Festival.
All proceeds from the concert will go toward supporting the 4th annual Robert Osborne Classic Film Festival, set for March 19-22 at the Classic Center in Athens.
Tickets are $10 and will be available at the door of Farm 255 on the night of the performance. Farm 255 is located at 255 W. Washington Street, Athens.
Hood has been hooked on the Osbornefest since the first festival in 2005 and offered to help raise awareness and funds for the non-profit event by arranging this concert with Farm 255. “I’m a lifelong film fanatic,” he said. “My hopes for the festival were high and they were exceeded. I really want to see this continue and grow.”
Osborne, the prime time host of Turner Classic Movies and columnist for The Hollywood Reporter, chooses eight classic films each year. The 2009 line up includes Goldfinger, The Godfather, Sunset Boulevard and E.T.
The festival has brought guests Jane Powell, Louise Fletcher, Maximilian Schell, Patricia Neal, Mickey Rooney, Fred Willard, Parker Posey, Roger Mayer and Marni Nixon among others to Athens to discuss their films with Robert Osborne on stage after the screenings. Fred Willard will return to Athens this year to serve as a special guest host with Osborne.
For the four day festival in March, the 2,000-seat Classic Center theatre will be transformed into a world-class movie palace with the installation of a motion picture screen and state-of-the-art 35mm projection and sound systems. Most prints will be pristine archival 35mm prints.
“It’s an exciting adventure to see these films the way they were meant to be seen. The big screen gives a different dimension and vitality to them,” said Osborne. Osborne also plans to include some Oscar-winning short films before some of the feature length films.
In addition, the festival will feature panel discussions hosted by Osborne. Panelists will include University of Georgia scholars, festival guests, artists, critics and others. The panel topics will relate to the classic festival films and their various influences. These panel discussions will be free and open to the public.
Robert Osborne’s Classic Film Festival is an annual non-profit event of the University of Georgia Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. For more information, see www.grady.uga.edu/osbornefest.
Established in 1915, the UGA Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication offers seven undergraduate majors including advertising, broadcast news, magazines, newspapers, public relations, publication management and telecommunication arts. The college offers two graduate degrees, and is home to WNEG-TV, the Knight Chair in Health and Medical Journalism and the Peabody Awards, internationally recognized as one of the most prestigious prizes for excellence in electronic media. For more information, see www.grady.uga.edu.
