Actor Gerald McRaney may have found a way to marry his &uot;two great loves.&uot; In Natchez Tuesday, McRaney helped announce the new Natchez Literary and Cinema Celebration, which debuts in 2001.

&uot;I have two great loves,&uot; he told an audience of nearly 50 community leaders gathered at the visioning session. &uot;One is film … the other is Mississippi.&uot;

A native Mississippian, McRaney said he has long been a fan of Natchez — &uot;the loveliest town in the South&uot; — and that’s why he has helped to promote the concept of a film festival in Natchez. Besides, he joked, if he can eventually lead more film companies to make movies in Mississippi, &uot;I don’t have to go so far from home to work anymore.&uot;

More than two years in the making, the first film celebration will take place in 2001 as the highly acclaimed Natchez Literary Celebration expands to embrace cinema and film.

&uot;We’re simply going to ‘tweak’ our conference a little bit,&uot; said Carolyn Vance Smith, who helped build the conference 11 years ago. &uot;(Film) is the way so many people learn … seeing as well as hearing&uot; that the combination of a film festival with the existing literary celebration was deemed a natural fit by the cosponsors, who include Copiah-Lincoln Community College, the Natchez National Historical Park, Mississippi Department of Archives and History and Alcorn State University.

And while Smith admits she was a bit overwhelmed when Brown first suggested the partnership — &uot;Marion and I went to call on the Browns for Christmas and Butch said, ‘Sit down, I want you to do something,’&uot; she joked — a meeting with executives at Disney studios in California opened her eyes to the possibilities.

&uot;They were extremely supportive,&uot; she said. &uot;And, they said, ‘We don’t want you to do another film festival … what we want you to do is celebrate the writers of film.’&uot;

And, as Brown said, the Natchez contingent — with chief supporter McRaney in the lead — had anticipated a 30-minute courtesy meeting with Disney executives. Instead, &uot;we spent two hours with the chairman of Disney studios and two film people … and when we left there we knew we had the makings of a hit. The challenge was to come back and sell he community … that to marry the film festival to the literary celebration may be a workable idea.&uot;

With that, the partnership was cemented and co-sponsors began to develop a program that will allow more prominent use of films in the celebration.

While many of the past celebrations have included films, the new Natchez Literary and Cinema Celebration will look to showcase film as an art form, particularly films by southern writers, or set in the South, or even telling, as Smith said, &uot;Southern stories.&uot;

Paul Nelson, a New Orleans based event organizer and promoter, will work with the celebration its first year, helping to network and develop the film aspects. Smith said tentative plans include trying to premiere a film at the beginning of the festival, and wrapping up the four-day event with a showing of a classic.

The festival will also be moved to late February or early March to accommodate schools and students.

More details about the festival will come later, Smith said.