Nashville Film Festival offers students free screenings, unique opportunities

An annual event here in Music City, the 44th annual Nashville Film Festival is set to begin its weeklong run at the Regal Green Hills 16 Theater by campus this week. This year’s slate of films ranges from a past Oscar nominee to highly anticipated films that have running the festival circuit. Portia Knox, the Media Manager for the Nashville Film Festival, spoke about the benefits the festival offers students, as the event offers discounts and free admittance to weekday matinee showings to those with a college ID. “Since Lipscomb University is a Partner University with the Film Festival this year, students can see any weekday matinee film for free, and all the other films are discounted to $8 (as opposed to $12),” Knox said. “All of the red carpet events are open to the public as well, so students can catch a glimpse of the film makers and celebrities as their films premiere.” The festival is showing the Nashville premieres of such notable releases as Jeff Nichol’s Mud, the indie comedy The Way, Way Back (from Oscar winners Jim Rash and Nat Faxon) and the documentary Muscle Shoals. Knox recommends that attendees check out some of the big titles the festival is offering, as well as Kon Tiki, a Best Foreign Language Film nominee from the 2013 Oscars. “As far as films I’d recommend, all of the Special Presentation films this year are really awesome,” Knox said. “I’m most excited about The Kings of Summer and Kon Tiki. There’s also some excitement about Good O’ Freda, which is a documentary about The Beatles’ long-time secretary.” The event will run from Thursday,...

The Dove Awards make Lipscomb their home for 2013 show

One of the biggest weeks in Contemporary Christian and Gospel music will be coming back home to Music City. After spending the last two years in Atlanta, the 44th annual Dove Awards will be back in Nashville, Tennessee on Oct. 15. The taping of the awards will be on the grounds of Lipscomb University in Allen Arena. The news regarding return of the Dove Awards broke March 19 on the Gospel Music Association website. Along with the move back to Nashville, the taping has been moved into the month of October where sales in Christian music are on the rise. The event has previously been held in the month of April. With moving back to Music City, GMA also announced that they have added a film category to the list of categories this year. This primarily comes from the rise in Christian filming production companies and quality films that have been released over the past few years. Last year, Jason Crabb, Laura Story, Lecrae, NEEDTOBREATHE, Switchfoot and Chris Tomlin were among the winners. The hosts, performers and nominees will be announced on Aug. 22, 2013. To be apart of the voting process, become a member and apply on the GMA website by March 30. For more information on the Dove Awards and other GMA Events, go to...

Lumination Newscast, March 24, 2013

In this semester’s ninth installment of Lumination News, Jeremy Keck and Nicolette Carney are behind the news desk to update you about what’s happening on campus. Nick Glende brings you up to date with technology news, and Caitlin Selle gives the scoop on all things entertainment. This week’s newscast features insight construction going on in Bison Square, a look into last week’s spring break, information on how Netflix can affect your grades and a look into the women’s track team. We also take a closer look at Lipscomb freshman Alex Banks, the newly launched LU Radio and information about the weekly Coffee House in Starbucks, as well as our weekly Nashville Spotlight and Tweets of the Week. Be sure to stay tuned for future newscasts published every Friday here on...

‘Oz the Great and Powerful’ offers an enjoyable trip down memory lane

Oz the Great and Powerful is the new fantasy film directed by Sam Raimi and inspired by L. Frank Baum’s Oz series. The first thing to be noted about the film is that it is, by far, not The Wizard of Oz. Aside from the setting and some characters, this film misses on giving one the same feeling the original Wizard of Oz did. I do not know if the film was trying to or not, but if one goes to this film expecting to see The Wizard of Oz, then they will be sorely disappointed. However, if one goes to this film expecting to see a new, standalone story set in the same universe as The Wizard of Oz, then they will be in for a treat. Let me take a moment to make a few comments about 3-D: I hate it. But, I saw Oz the Great and Powerful in 3-D, and thought it worked very well. The opening title sequence of the film was beautiful and brilliant on its own but was made more engaging and alluring by the awesome use of 3-D. There are many circumstances in the film that are made better because of the 3-D element incorporated. (I think this is due to the film being shot in that format instead of post-converted to 3D.) As I mentioned before, it’s best not to go into this movie with expectations of reliving all the great things about The Wizard of Oz. The new film follows a wily, cunning magician named Oscar “Oz” Diggs (James Franco) as he finds himself in more trouble than he...

Blackbird Theater’s production of ‘Amadeus’ opens in Shamblin

Friday, March 8, Shamblin Theater hosted the opening night for Blackbird Theater’s production of Amadeus. The Peter Shaffer play, later adapted into the Academy Award-winning film, tells the story of the tumultuous life and death of Mozart from the perspective of his long time rival Salieri. Feeling he was cheated by God because he was not blessed with the gift Mozart had, the play shows the mental and spiritual battle Salieri fought. The Amadeus production at Lipscomb gives Blackbird Theater founders Wes Driver and Greg Greene an opportunity to work at their Alma Mater, as well as work with current Lipscomb students. The idea began with Lipscomb Theater department chair Mike Fernandez and his encouragement for the duo to create the theater production company and be artist-in-residence. Driver is the artistic director, and Greene serves as the managing director. The hope of Driver and Green is to inspire, yet challenge, the minds of the audience. “The type of theater we hope to produce is transformative. We want to produce productions that will initially challenge people but ultimately inspires them,” Driver said. For Greene, the expectation for the show is, “to transform the people’s thinking and give them an opportunity to reflect on the big issues in life. Having conversations after the show and the responses from social media is what makes a show successful.” The production is one of the many performances from the Nashville Symphony and Orchestra throughout the months of March and April. Mozart in the Music City will be a period of all things Mozart. This includes the production of Amadeus, the Orchestra performing The Magic Flute and the Symphony holding a piano concerto. Student tickets are...