All are welcome to see a free screening of Possum Town, a new documentary about Columbus, Mississippi, and meet the filmmakers.

Click here to get a free ticket on Eventbrite. | Watch the movie trailer here!

Possum Town is a portrait of Columbus, Mississippi, as discovered through several present-day figures whose stories intersect with a rich photographic archive of the historic town.

O.N. Pruitt, a local photographer in the early 1900s, documented the gamut of Southern life over his career in one of the largest known photographic records of a small Southern town at that time. Comprised of over 140,000 images, the Pruitt collection evokes a treasure trove of historical information about daily existence in Columbus as lived 100 years ago.

As author Berkley Hudson combs through the trove of photographs, reflecting on the revelations they bare, the film explores the same themes in the lives of people today. Possum Town explores how and why we look at images, ways of seeing, and the harmony and discord between images of the past and present. The film suggests, as does the vast scope of Pruitt's work, the boundless connection we have to each other and our histories — and how history never ceases as it continues to shape life today.

Presented by the Friendly City Books Community Connection, a special project of the CREATE Foundation, in partnership with the Mississippi Film Society.