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Too bad for any local news stations that tossed out vast quantities of archival footage from the city's past. As Nashville Public Television has proved, there's gold in them thar vaults. The station's Memories of Nashville docs have been pledge-drive blockbusters, and Channel 8 blows dust off the scrapbooks again with Nashville: The 20th Century in Photographs, premiering 7 p.m. tonight on NPT.

Using stills from a number of sources--the Tennessean photo archive, the Tennessee State Library Archives, the Library of Congress--NPT documentarian Justin Harvey sets the wayback machine for 1897 and the Tennessee Centennial celebration. Billed as Volume 1, tonight's episode covers the early 20th century through World War I and the Depression years.

The money shots in the trailer above include Depression-era 5th Avenue, complete with flivvers, horse-drawn wagons and what look like gaslights, and one of the electric street cars that used to run through the downtown shopping district. If this doesn't satisfy your sweet tooth for musty memorabilia, fear not: NPT's Memories of Opryland repeats tonight at 10:30 p.m.

The days leading up to the English-Only referendum were heady times in the Pith Photoshop department

Dear Eric Crafton:

I'm sure that even just the title of Nashville Public Television's Hablamos Español, which airs tonight at 7 p.m. on Channel 8, will have you and your English-Only ilk cringing with horror. But we implore you to tune in to the latest installment of NPT's excellent Next Door Neighbors series, which explores the cultural roots of Nashville's increasingly diverse population. (Previous installments have focused on our city's Somali and Kurdish communities.)

Who knows, you might even aprendes a thing or dos.

Judging from the above video of audience reaction to the world premiere of Nashville filmmaker Brent W. Leung's House of Numbers at the Nashville Film Festival, you'd think the film received a unanimously positive reception. But if you read Jim Ridley's piece "Controversy lingers after premiere of Nashville director's AIDS documentary" in this week's Scene, in which he examines the uproar surrounding the screening and the contentious Q&A that followed, you'll know the truth is anything but.

Considering that the user who posted the video goes by the name "houseofnumbers," it seems likely the video was made by people associated with the film, so it's understandable that it would have been advantageously edited. Still, according to Harvard Medical School Professor Daniel Kuritzkes, a veteran AIDS researcher who appears in the film (and who claims his remarks were shown out of context), when it comes to making films, Leung has a gift for stacking the deck.

The controversy boils down to this: Leung portrays his film as an unbiased look at HIV and AIDS, while his detractors, including many highly respected AIDS researchers, claim the film is full of misinformation and clearly reflects the filmmaker's AIDS-denialist agenda, a contention further fueled by Leung's refusal to identify the film's financial backers.

For an account of the melee at the Boston screening mentioned in Ridley's story, check out this in-depth account from Bay Windows, "New England's largest GLBT newsaper." Associate editor Ethan Jacobs describes a scene in which Kuritzkes, participating in a post-film rebuttal panel, is repeatedly shouted down by Leung and audience members while trying to present his case.

In Jacobs' account, two Boston audience members who appeared in the film, Austrian gynecologist Christian Fiala and Liam Scheff (identified in the film as a freelance journalist), walked down and sat at the panel table uninvited, claiming they were forcibly joining the panel to provide balance. Several days after the story, Bay Windows allowed Scheff to present his version of events. (I'm always a little wary of anyone who follows their signature with "investigative journalist.")

Put as simply as possible, the choice is this: Either all of our currently accepted knowledge of HIV/AIDS is fabricated, part of a cynical conspiracy by Big Pharma to make money and sell drugs, or AIDS denialists (they prefer "dissenters" or "rethinkers") are dangerously misleading people and in the process discouraging AIDS sufferers from seeking the very treatment that may save their lives. Take your pick.

This much we do know: Judging from the reader reaction to Ridley's piece, you'd think he had mentioned Scientology.

In Yale's Class of '68, two men who would make a profound impact on 21st century America began their rise to power: George W. Bush and Lloyd Kaufman. One became a role model, a bold and decisive leader, an inspiration to subsequent generations. The other became president.

The Scene caught up yesterday with Kaufman--co-founder of Troma Films, co-creator of The Toxic Avenger, and author of the new book Direct Your Own Damn Movie!--on the eve of his trip to Nashville. Not only is he a featured guest at this weekend's Full Moon Tattoo & Horror Festival, he'll be signing copies of Direct Your Own Damn Movie! 4 p.m. Sunday at the West End Borders.

He's also filming cameos in at least two local films: the latest installment in Glen Weiss' ongoing Thong Girl saga, and a film by Nathan Fisher of the Murfreesboro punk band Doctor Gonzo. Those join some 18 acting credits Kaufman has this year alone, including a walk-on in Crank: High Voltage--where he gets to deliver the catchphrase that's sweeping the nation: "Better call 911."

This American Life went live last night. Normally available only on radio or podcast, Ira Glass and friends performed the show's signature hour-long mix of tangentially related stories on a Columbia University stage and broadcast it to over 400 movie screens nationwide, including the Green Hills Regal. What resulted was kind of what you'd expect. Like an intelligent take on the variety show (are you listening, Leno?).

Just like all TALs, the show revolved around a central theme. In this case: "Return to the Scene of the Crime." If you're a fan of the show you know that some stories get inelegantly shoehorned just to fit the theme. This was the case last night. But, again, if you're a fan, you also know that this doesn't matter in the least.

After an entertaining word-play countdown that I now officially nominate to replace all pre-preview movie infotainment, Glass sat down at a desk set off-center to a round of applause (and yes, there were a few in the Green Hills crowd who whooped and clapped along*). In front of a mic and two turntable-ish recording devices, Glass started the performance on an odd note of explanation; waving his right hand and saying "quotes" and then his left hand with an accompanying "music."

*In the right crowd, the question of whether or not to clap in a movie theater can be as divisive as politics or religion. The argument against is pretty simple: The people you wish to applaud can't hear you. A counter argument can't be provided in this post because, again, THE PEOPLE YOU WISH TO APPLAUD CAN'T HEAR YOU.

Filming what is normally meant to go on radio is already a way of revealing the strings behind the puppet show. What Glass's minor bit of exposition meant to show, I think, was how his hands then made them dance. That's one of the advantages to showing what happens behind the scenes: TAL, even when it's not filmed as such, is always a performance. And Glass is an argument in favor of the human capacity for multi-tasking...

The 40th annual Nashville Film Festival has just two nights left, with a flurry of local premieres. Tonight's offerings include Stacy Peralta's documentary Crips and Bloods: Made in America (6 p.m.); An Unlikely Weapon (6:30 p.m.), a portrait of war photographer Eddie Adams, with director Susan Morgan Cooper and composer Kyle Eastwood in attendance; Upstream Battle (7 p.m.), in which a coalition of American Indians takes on billionaire Warren Buffett; and the comedy Weather Girl (8 p.m., trailer above), with star Tricia O'Kelley from The New Adventures of Old Christine in attendance.

After the jump: a list of recently filled TBA slots, including another chance at some of the festival's most popular films.

When better to show a movie billed as "the Spinal Tap of Christian dance-pop" than during GMA Week? By the time you read this, all the tickets may have been given away for the Nashville premiere of Jesus People tomorrow night, but it's still worth a try for all you backsliders.

Expanding the popular web series into a feature, director Jason Naumann follows Pastor Jerry Frank (Joel McCrary) as he tries to wean his teenager away from Beelzebub's loins by forming the sorriest contemporary-Christian pop group ever to shake a collection plate. Perhaps you've heard their rap hit "Snatched Up (The Rapture)."

The supporting cast includes such veteran comic players as Laura Silverman, Austin Powers' Mindy Sterling, 10 Items or Less' Jennifer Elise Cox and Reno 911's Wendy McLendon-Covey. The film screens 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at The Belcourt; admission is free, with tickets available only through info (at) jesuspeoplefilm (dot) com. You can see more clips from the movie here.

In what can only be called a triumphant arrival after a long, strange trip, the Nashville-shot coming-of-age zombie drama Make-out with Violence took three juried awards this weekend at the Nashville Film Festival, including the festival's top honor, the Regal Cinemas Dreammaker Award.

Andy Duensing, one-half (with Chris Doyle) of the directing team the Deagol Brothers, was beaming last night after the awards announcement and the film's full-house screening. It was a sweet pay-off after last year's disappointment, when the film was pulled from a NaFF slot just weeks before its scheduled screening because of technical issues.

The Deagols are in good company. The last filmmaker who made that kind of splash at the festival was Memphis writer-director Craig Brewer, whose no-budget 2000 debut The Poor & Hungry gathered an armload of NaFF prizes--heralding his later success at Sundance with the rap drama Hustle & Flow. (Brewer will host a special closing-night screening of his current MTV project 5 Dollar Cover.)

To make the Deagols' victory sweeter still, one of the jurors, NPR and former New York Times critic Elvis Mitchell, was an instant fan of the movie--an endorsement the filmmakers can take to the bank. It screens once more at 4 p.m. today.

Director Yulene Olaizola took the festival's top documentary prize for her unsettling Spanish-language doc Shakespeare and Victor Hugo's Intimacies, with the crowd-pleasing Pressure Cooker (about a high-stakes cooking contest for Philadelphia inner-city kids) receiving honorable mention. Antonio Campos won a special experimental-narrative prize for his surveillance-culture high-school drama Afterschool.

A full list of the jury awards follows after the jump. Still to come are the NaFF audience awards, which remain a toss-up. Likely contenders include the well received opening-night feature (500) Days of Summer, the surprisingly engaging William Shatner's Gonzo Ballet, the Tennessee-shot Hal Holbrook drama That Evening Sun, rock doc Rock Prophecies, and the well-loved sleeper Trying to Get Good: The Jazz Odyssey of Jack Sheldon. But at this point, nobody should count out Make-out with Violence.

Word is that an NBC news crew will be at the Nashville Film Festival today, preparing a story on visiting filmmaker Andrew Robinson. His movie April Showers opens Friday in select cities and is showing once at the festival today at 3 p.m. An indie drama starring Illeana Douglas and Tom Arnold, the movie concerns a school shooting and its aftermath, particularly on one anguished student.

Robinson writes from first-hand experience. He attended Columbine High School, and on April 20, 1999 he happened to be in the science lab as the horrific massacre unfolded. The NBC crew is said to be filming him for a story on the 10-year anniversary of the Columbine shootings.

If you plan on attending the film, get tickets early. Opening-night attendance this year was through the roof, and several movies (including tonight's Rock Prophecies) have already sold out.

The problems of three boys growing up in literal mountains of waste and trash might sound like despairing material for a film. But Garbage Dreams, a documentary by Egyptian-American filmmaker Mai Iskander showing Tuesday, April 21, at the Nashville Film Festival, has won over audiences with the humor and resilience of its subjects. As Jack Silverman writes in this week's Scene cover story on the festival:

Iskander's documentary focuses on the plight of the Zaballeen, Cairo's underclass of indigenous garbage workers, who for 150 years have been picking up trash from people's homes and taking it back to their villages for sustenance. The movie follows Osama, Adham and Nabil, three teenage boys in Cairo's largest Zaballeen village, Mokattam, a city literally filled with garbage. Buoyed by a deep sense of faith and dignity, the boys seem at peace with the cards life has dealt them. But that existence is now threatened by globalization, as the government has begun outsourcing much of its waste disposal work to private European contractors.

Iskander has a long list of camera credits on major-studio pictures such as Deep Impact, One True Thing and The Bone Collector. Thanks to Donald and Brenda Spicer, producers with strong Nashville ties, she talked via email with the Scene about her movie, how the Spicers came to be involved, and the Zaballeen's complex role in a world of waste.