Crash film scheduled for two local viewings

Two local viewings have been scheduled for a documentary about the May 14, 1988, Carrollton bus crash that killed 27 and injured 34.

The bus, carrying 67 passengers from Radcliff First Assembly of God Church to King’s Island, was struck by a pickup truck driven by a drunken driver going the wrong direction on Interstate 71 in Carroll County.

“IMPACT: After the Crash” is scheduled to be shown privately to survivors, families of those affected and other invited guests on the 25th anniversary of the crash May 14 at the Historic State Theater on West Dixie Avenue in Elizabethtown.

Invitations will be sent and announcements will be made on a Facebook page called “IMPACT: After the Crash-Documentary.” For information or to make reservations, go to www.theimpactmovie.com.

A free public screening is at 7 p.m. May 15 at the Hardin County Schools Performing Arts Center at John Hardin High School on W.A. Jenkins Road in Elizabethtown.

Tickets for that event must be reserved ahead of time through the PAC online ticketing program or by phone.

Director Jason Epperson said he expects public figures such as Kentucky first lady Jane Beshear to be at the viewing.

He also thinks there will be a large demand for tickets.

The private showing has long been planned by those working on the documentary and Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Epperson said.

The event will allow those personally affected an intimate, respectful place to experience the film. MADD representatives plan to have counselors available to anyone who needs them, he said.

“There are going to be a lot of emotions for these families,” he said.

Those Epperson has spoken with who plan to attend the private viewing said they have mixed feelings about it.

“Even those who are apprehensive, they’re anxious to see it on one side,” he said. “On the other side, they’re anxious about what they will see.”

The Hardin County venues seemed the best and most appropriate for the first two showings of the film because of the impact the crash had on community members, Epperson said.

The Office of Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention grant issued by Kentucky State Police, which paid for production along with donations, requires there be a public showing.

Epperson hopes the film will get people talking and demonstrate the devastating effects drunken driving can have.

“We do our best to just tell the story as it was,” he said.

Making the viewings free also means the documentary still can be considered for film festivals Epperson has in mind to draw more attention from industry professionals.

He hopes the documentary will earn a distribution deal that will make it available nationwide.

“I think the biggest question we’re getting hit with is, ‘Are you going to show it in our town?’” he said. “That’s a great problem to have.”

Amber Coulter can be reached at (270) 505-1746 or acoulter@thenewsenterprise.com.