During the month of September, downtown patrons can enjoy a popup, outdoor movie theater right in the center of downtown. River City Company will launch a movie series event, Movies at the 700 Block, on Sept. 1. The series will be free to the public and will feature an opening documentary followed by a classic of the 1980’s.

The movie series will be located at 728 Market St, a piece of property that River City Company took possession of in December. Currently, the property is an empty gravel lot ready for development.

“We know how important this block is to downtown and to the growth of this area," said Kim White, president of River City Company.  "While working through different options with developers we thought this would be a great way to animate the center of the city and bring life to the block."

Movies at the 700 Block will feature the following:

Saturday, Sept. 1
Opening film - Build Me a World: Story of the Howard School, a local documentary created by the film group Fancy Rhino follows the lives of four Howard High School students. The featured film is The Goonies, the famous 1985 classic about a group of kids who attempt to save their neighborhood from demolition but stumble onto a treasure chase adventure.

Saturday, September 8
Opening film - Lunch Hour, directed by James Costa, is a feature length documentary that explores the National School Lunch Program, childhood obesity, and our addiction to unhealthy foods, starring Rachel Ray, Robin Quivers, Marion Nestle and Alex Jamieson. The featured film is E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, filmed in 1982, tells the story of a meek and alienated little boy finding a stranded extraterrestrial. He has to find the courage to defy the authorities to help the alien return to its home planet. 

Saturday, Sept. 22
Opening film – Urbanized  is a feature-length documentary about the design of cities, which looks at the issues and strategies behind urban design and features some of the world’s foremost architects, planners, policymakers, builders, and thinkers. A short film on the creation of the Passage at Ross’ Landing created by locals Ann Coulter and Mary Barnett, called One Road, will show after the initial film airs. The featured film is Back to the Future, starring Michael J Fox. Set in 1985, Doc Brown invents time travel; in 1955, Marty McFly accidentally prevents his parents from meeting, putting his own existence at stake. 

The screening of the featured documentaries was made possible by collaboration with the Arts and Education Council. Chattanooga is currently the only southern city to host a screening of Lunch Hour. James Costa, the director, will take part in the screening as well as address the topic of the National School Lunch Program while visiting Chattanooga.

“We’re especially proud of the documentary line up we have in place. We wanted to show films that young adults would be engaged in, so rather than just having a movie series, we’re actually creating an education opportunity,” stated Tiffanie Robinson, director Creative Strategies at River City Company.

Movies at the 700 Block is free to the public. The event starts at 8:45 p.m. each night. Movies will be projected off the buildings surrounding the 700 block. Attendees are encouraged to bring their own lawn chair. Food trucks will be present along with a cash bar for beer sales.  

For more information, visit River City Company’s Facebook page, Facebook.com/rivercitycompany or www.RiverCityCompany.com.