Documentary filmmaker John Paget has a deep personal connection to Route 66.
Back in the early 1990s, after graduating from college, he turned a cross-country trip to retrieve a Cadillac into a feature documentary titled Route 66: An American Odyssey. Now, as the historic highway turns 100, he's back with another film titled Route 66: The Main Street of America.
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| Paget and his beloved Cadillac |
The feature documentary will have a road trip of its own, world premiering September 1st at the Art Institute of Chicago and then traveling, with Paget, across eight states for various screening events and premieres. It all culminates November 7th in Los Angeles with a final screening at the Los Angeles Theatre on South Broadway in downtown L.A.
For each roadshow stop, Paget will host a post-screening discussion with some of the people featured locally in the documentary. All and all, this really is a fantastic way to celebrate the 100th anniversary of America's most celebrated highway.
Paget spent six months on the road making the documentary, capturing emblematic stories along the way. "It's a lot of people living creative, adventuresome lives, but kind of choosing the road less traveled," he told Albuquerque's KOAT-TV. "That's what's keeping the road alive. Like moving to Tucumcari, New Mexico, buying an old motel (The Blue Swallow) off of Zillow and restoring it."
One of the most seminal stories in the film is that of a pair of cousins in Luther, Oklahoma who completed in the spring the restoration of the Threatt Filling Station. Opened in 1933 as the first Black-owned gas station along Route 66, it has been transformed into an interpretive center.
In between the Route 66 documentaries, Paget has made films about Elvis Presley, Alcatraz, a Santa Claus convention in Florida and more. He's also given a TED Talk about how to revitalize small towns.
[Route 66: The Main Street of America - screenings schedule]
Previously on FilmStew:
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