Film Screening: Athens, GA: Inside/Out 40th Anniversary Restoration

Join the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library and the Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection for a free screening of the newly restored Athens, GA: Inside/Out. The 1986 documentary features interviews and concert footage of notable Athens bands, including R.E.M., Pylon, and The B-52s. The film was directed, written, and shot by Tony Gayton, a first-time director who recently graduated from University of Southern California before beginning this project. This event is free and open to the public, but seats will be filled on a first-come, first-serve basis.

More about the restoration project and fundraiser: In 2023, the film’s producer, Bill Cody, donated all the original 16mm film and audio elements to the Walter J. Brown Media Archives & Peabody Awards Collection at the UGA Libraries, where they are safely stored under optimal conditions. The funds helped to pay for the work of scanning, color grading, and audio mastering the elements in order to produce a DCP (digital cinema package) and a 35mm film print for projection in all theaters, as well as a new film negative for long-term preservation. The work was done at film/audio/digital labs in Seattle, Burbank, Baltimore, and even Lawrenceville, Georgia. This is an investment in a film that is iconically Athens, rooted in UGA (many band members met as students), and which showcases the music that helped define Athens as the music city it is today. It has inspired musicians from all over to move here and pursue their dreams, which they still do today.