But first, Paducah, Kentucky, has a reputation for supporting the arts, and one of those arts has been getting a little extra attention lately.

With Kentucky's film production incentives, producers are taking a closer look at our state, and Paducah has a lot to offer.

From the rich history of the Columbia Theater Movie Palace to an upstart production company, this Western Kentucky town is ready for its closeup.

[music playing] The Broadway Street Corridor holds a special place in the history of downtown Paducah.

In 1927, the city welcomed its first cinema, the majestic Columbia Theater, and this is where Paducah's passion for film was born.

With the Columbia Theater, that was the first opportunity for people here in Paducah to see film.

A lot of people talk about seeing their first film at the Columbia and remembering that moment because it really is special.

The first date I had with a young lady who is now my wife of 42 years was here in the Columbia.

You know how first dates are.

You never really know how that's going to go, but I will admit to you, I had an air of confidence because for me, even back then, the Columbia was a special place.

Columbia is film history whenever it comes to Paducah.

People forget that the Keiler family were one of the first investors of Columbia Studios back in the silver age of cinema.

Keiler family's Paducah.

Leo Keiler, in 1927, opened the Columbia Theater and he had every intent to build the finest theater he could possibly build at that time.

In fact, the Columbia Theater was the first air-conditioned building in Paducah.

The first movie that played at the Columbia was Paramount Pictures' silent film "It", featuring Hollywood starlet, Clara Bow.

The Columbia Theater quickly became a focal point of downtown Paducah in spite of challenges like the Great Depression and the historic Ohio River flood of 1937.

When Leo's son, Jack, took over the business, he continued the Columbia's close ties to Hollywood.

Back in the 1950s on a fairly regular basis when the Columbia was premiering a film, the stars of the film would come to Paducah and help to promote that new film.

As the industry shifted toward big multi-screen theaters, the Columbia could no longer compete and the Keilers shut the doors in 1987.

Now, a nonprofit called Columbia Art House owns the theater and is working hard to restore it.

Right now, our primary goal and our primary need is to restore and essentially save the building.

We're excited about an opportunity that we have with the city of Paducah who has agreed to a matching grant of $500,000 that will really move us forward to complete phase one and then get us into that next, that phase two when we can look to preserving the interior of the structure and re-imagining it as a venue.

Paducah's love for film was born in the Columbia Theater, but it reaches well beyond the venerable walls and has found a new voice at the fiercely independent Maiden Alley Cinema.

Maiden Alley Cinema started in 1991 when a group of like-minded people came together and said, "You know, we wanna get together and watch films and we think that other people here in Paducah would like to do that too."

And they would print a program with all of the films listed for a year and invite different people from the community to come and participate.

Maiden Alley not only screens independent films from around the world, but it also brings filmmakers to the River City.

This continues the Columbia's tradition of bringing together audiences and movie makers.

The River's Edge Film Festival is an international film festival that is the longest running here in the state of Kentucky and the only film festival here in Western Kentucky.

We've been doing it since 2006 and we accept submissions from all over the world.

With greater access to technology, regional filmmaking has exploded and everyone needs a place to show their films.

There's a lot of people that are doing films here.

There's a lot of people that are, you know, doing short films or working on features or doing what they can with the resources that they have.

Maiden Alley is a huge supporter of those folks.

And you don't get much more local than Brett Woodall.

He returned home to Paducah to make films and set up shop in his great grandfather's old construction business.

He even uses it as a film set.

[music playing] You don't see Berber carpet on walls anymore.

There's pieces of tile that are worn down.

That's from my grandmother's heels whenever she was, you know, sitting in the secretary desk.

By leveraging the state's film production incentives, Brett's company, Commonwealth Creative Entertainment, is able to produce films with first-rate talent and production values.

I don't plan on my impact on Paducah Film to be just bringing in filmmakers from out of state or out of region.

I also want to help grow local filmmakers and help give them the resources that they need to do work that they're proud of.

I think that the Paducah Film scene is really going to explode.

And so, in five years, maybe we'll have a local filmmaker screening once a month.

That would be incredible.

Obviously, there's a lot of excitement for the future of film in Paducah right now, but no one is forgetting where it all started.

The Columbia's history, I think, really serves as a great foundation, a platform even for the burgeoning film industry here in Paducah.

In fact, it's an important piece of the puzzle as we look at the current film situation in Paducah.