Native Smithvillian Brenda Greene Mitchell will be screening her first film as a director, award-winning "Honky Tonk Heaven: The Legend of the Broken Spoke," Friday night in Smithville as a kick-off to Saturday’s Texas Photo Festival. The documentary will also run Saturday afternoon.

Mitchell was born in Smithville in 1954 and raised in town alongside her three sisters, known collectively as "The Greene girls."

"Growing up in the 1960s and 70s here was magical," Mitchell remembered. "Weekends, Friday night picture show downtown, Saturday nights dancing."

Though she now lives in Austin, she returns to her Smithville home "as often as I can," still calling it her hometown. She said that it took moving away from Smithville to really appreciate the "beautiful, simple, friendly town."

Like most who grow up in Smithville, Mitchell spent her teenage years dancing the night away to countless polkas and waltzes at Czech festivals at Central Texas dance halls most Saturday nights, including at the American Legion, Cistern, Kovar, Swiss Alp and La Grange.

While in college at San Marcos’ then-Southwest Texas State University, Mitchell discovered the infamous Broken Spoke dance hall in Austin.

Years later, her 50th birthday party was held there. While looking out over the dance floor, the thought hit her that someone should document the history of the place, never thinking that it would be her.

"I don’t have a film background at all," Mitchell said. "My two sons are young filmmakers. I just started helping them out on the set. I came into film making through the back door."

Nine years later, Mitchell was driving down South Lamar and saw new construction on either side of the Broken Spoke. She admitted that she was scared, "my heart just jumped, leapt right out of my chest," not knowing if the dance hall was going to be torn down.

"That was the moment I decided to do this documentary," she said.

After pulling together a "really good team" including her sons Cody and Wade, Mitchell took three years and over 100 hours of film to document the dance hall with various musical performances and the family behind it all.

"We wanted to know what James and Annetta White’s day was like when they unlocked the door to when they locked it back up," Mitchell said.

"That it’s still there, still family-owned and run – that’s beautiful and amazing, especially in Austin," she said.

According to a press release, the documentary "holds a universal story about what it takes to maintain a family business in our increasingly corporate-driven society. With over 50 years under its Austin belt buckle, ‘the last of the true Texas dance halls’ has endured rapid urban growth and skyrocketing rents due to the passion and hard work of its charismatic, tenacious owners, James and Annetta White."

Interviews in the film include iconic musicians Willie Nelson, Jerry Jeff Walker, Dale Watson, James Hand, Jesse Dayton, the Waco Brothers and Alvin Crow.

The documentary was Audience Award Winner at the 2016 SXSW Film Festival with Mitchell and, coming into the project late to edit and co-direct, Sam Wainwright Douglas. Mitchell is the president of Wild Blue Yonder Films.

Friday’s screening in Smithville will be at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday’s at 3 p.m. at Smithville’s storied Playhouse Smithville, 110 Main St.

Tickets are $10 and can be purchased by calling the Smithville Chamber of Commerce at 512-237-2313 or in person at 100 NW 1st St. or online at www.playhousesmithville.com/tickets.html. If seats are available, tickets can be purchased at the door at Playhouse Smithville before each show.

Following the screenings, moviegoers can enjoy a question-and-answer session with Mitchell and Broken Spoke’s owner, James White.

A former writer, Mitchell has thought about writing a book about her childhood as a novel, but doesn’t have any concrete plans. When asked about possible future filming in Smithville, she said, "Let’s just keep that door open."