VALDOSTA — With popcorn in one hand and Coca-Cola in the other, residents filled Mathis City Auditorium Wednesday night to see the premiere of “Spook Bridge.”

Prior to the movie, Roy Kirkland, one of the filmmakers, introduced the movie and the soon to be created Southern Georgia Film Alliance.

The alliance is open to business leaders, residents in South Georgia and any local leaders who want to join, Kirkland said. The alliance will promote the film industry in South Georgia. 

Looking to the future, Kirkland said he does not plan to take his movie ventures out of South Georgia.

“We are not going to be like some of these people who were born in Valdosta and they made millions of dollars, and they go and live somewhere else and spend it somewhere else,” Kirkland said. “We’re going to make millions of dollars and we’re going to stay right here in Valdosta, in South Georgia.”

Kirkland produced the movie with film director Doug Sebastian. They are still looking for a national distributor for the movie.

The movie features several actors and actresses who live in the Valdosta/South Georgia region.

The majority of the filming took place summer 2016 in Brooks County, which Kirkland said in a past article opened its doors to the movie production. Several Brooks County sites appear in the movie.

As does Spook Bridge.

“Spook Bridge,” the movie, touches upon legends surrounding the South Georgia highway bridge that has been closed for several decades but draws mostly upon a fictional story stretching from the South of 1916 to the early and mid-20th century when the span was first built to the abandoned span of more modern times.

Residents who missed the premiere still have a chance to catch the movie on the big screen Thursday and Friday, Oct. 26, 27. Doors open 6 p.m. at Mathis, 2300 N. Ashley St., and the movie is slated to begin at 7 p.m. Admission is $10 at the ticket booth. 

Jason Smith is a reporter at The Valdosta Daily Times. He can be contacted at 229-244-3400 ext.1257.