The subtitle of the new Isaac Hayes film "Dodge City" is "A Spaghetto Western."

No, that's not a typo. "A `Spaghetto Western' is a Spaghetti Western set in the ghetto," said Read Ridley, 36, the Nashville writer-director of "Dodge City," which receives its "U.S. premiere" here Friday night as part of the eighth annual Memphis Black Writers Conference & Southern Film Festival.

The event begins today and continues through Sunday, mainly at Peabody Place, where two of the 22 screens in Muvico's Peabody Place cinema will be devoted to workshops, panel discussions and a slate of more than a dozen shorts and features, including "Afropunk," a recent documentary about black kids involved in the predominantly white culture of punk rock. The film, which features performances by Bad Brains and interviews with members of Fishbone and the Dead Kennedys, will be screened today at 5 p.m.

Other festival activities - including story hours for children and parties for adults - will take place at such locations as the Center for Southern Folklore, Zanzibar Cafe and the Memphis Marriott Downtown. In addition, vendors will be set up throughout Peabody Place, selling books by the guest authors and other wares.

Among the writers slated to take part are NAACP Image Award-winning novelist Omar Tyree, whose best-sellers include "Diary of a Groupie," "Single Mom" and "Flyy Girl"; motivational speaker Lisa Nichols, co-author of the upcoming "Chicken Soup for the African-American Soul"; and Torrance Stephens, whose well-reviewed short story collection is "Rockstar, Stud, Gigolo."

Also attending will be inspirational writers, including Dr. Sheila Carpenter, author of "The Christian Walk: The Struggle to Remain on the Path." "People don't really understand the philosophy of Christianity, so what I do is break it down so people can realize what it means to `walk like Christ,' " said Ohio resident Carpenter, who will participate in panels today, Friday and Saturday.

Lawrence Anthony, founder and director of the writers conference and film festival, described the event as "a cultural explosion."

"It's a good time to enjoy something on a high intellectual level, from literature to film to African-American culture in general," he said.

Memphis filmmaker DeAara Lewis, 25, will screen her 33-minute "woman's piece" titled "The Forgotten Ones" at 4:30 p.m. today. The University of Memphis graduate said her dramatic film explores the way in which "the parts of ourselves that are most oppressed and the parts we think are the most taboo come back to hurt us after we've pushed them away and think they've gone away. They come out through alcohol abuse, child abuse and destructive behaviors.

"It's about going back and claiming our strength by confronting our fears and our pasts," she said.

Lewis needed strength to complete her film. She said her South Memphis home burned down about the time she finished her script, in late 2001. "So I was raising the money to put together the film project at the same time I was raising money to replace my belongings."

"Dodge City: A Spaghetto Western" also had a tough birth, according to Ridley.

The film - to be screened at 8 p.m. Friday - was inspired by Ridley's childhood. Ridley, who is white, said that because his mother wasn't particularly interested in coping with the day-to-day demands of parenthood, he was raised off and on throughout his youth by a black couple in an inner-city neighborhood in his hometown of Murfreesboro. The experience caused him to believe that "a lot of the problems in ethnic neighborhoods are caused by the predominant culture - the white culture - almost barricading them (black residents) into these separate neighborhoods. They're just kind of neglected, and set adrift."

He said "Dodge City" is basically an urban Western, with a detective instead of a cowboy hero. In traditional Hollywood Westerns, black performers usually appeared only in small roles, as entertainers or servants. "Dodge City" inverts that formula, casting African-Americans in most of the leading roles and white actors in the small, secondary parts. Ridley said he did this because, "Over the years of working in film, I've seen so many talented black actors in the Nashville market, and they're fantastic. But they're always struggling."

Isaac Hayes plays one of the heroes of the story, a detective named John Wade, named for Ridley's "black father." Said Ridley: "Ike is an icon, an Oscar-winner, a Grammy-winner. To have him in your movie is a real honor." The cast also includes Jackson Bostwick, who played superhero Captain Marvel for two seasons on the CBS Saturday morning TV show, "Shazam!"

Admission to "Dodge City" is $10. Admission costs for other films and events vary, and many are free.

A pass good for admission to all festival events is $100.

For details and schedule: http://www.angelfire.com/tn/ blackwritersconf/InfoPage.html.