Rewind the Reel. Relive the Rhythm.
Restore Athens, GA: Inside/Out.
2026 is the 40th anniversary of Athens, GA: Inside/Out, the film that captured the Athens music scene! It was a unique time in Athens and in music history as local bands R.E.M., Pylon, The B-52s, Love Tractor, Kilkenny Cats, Flat Duo Jets, Bar-B-Q Killers, Dreams So Real, Limbo District, The Squalls, and Time Toy, made exciting music that defined the 1980s. Were you there?
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. But it’s time to preserve this material to new film and digital formats, and to that end, we have set the goal of funding $50,000 to make it happen. This will 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 will be 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!
Help us meet our goal by funding any part of the preservation:
- Scanning film rolls and titles – $4,000
- Digital image cleanup – $5,000
- Audio mastering and encoding – $2,700
- Color grading, conforming, digital output – $13,000
- Digital image to new prints – $18,000
- Lab evaluation and project administration – $7,300
When the project is fully funded and completed, we look forward to celebrating the 40th anniversary. As a community, we will come together and view this time capsule of a vibrant musical era that celebrates the Athens music scene and how bands of various genres coexisted and supported one another.
Won’t you join us in preserving this unique slice of Georgia history?
Donors who gift $500 or more to help restore Athens, Ga. Inside/Out will be featured in the restoration credits.
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