If this is your first FILM FEST KNOX, welcome! If you’re returning for year two, welcome back! In addition to concerts, events, conventions, sporting events, and more, FILM FEST KNOX is a wonderful reason to visit Knoxville. Our Visit Knoxville Film Office is thrilled to once again host this event, building on the incredible success of its inaugural year. The VK Film Office has recruited nearly 20 feature films since 2016, putting Knoxville on the map as a premier film location for independent films. Knoxville has even been ranked four times as one of MovieMaker Magazine’s Best Places to Live and Work as a Filmmaker. Whether you’re a casual FILM FEST KNOX attendee or you’re here considering the area for your next project, the VK Film Office looks forward to showing you how great Knoxville looks through a lens!
GLENN JACOBS
Knox County Mayor
Welcome to Knox County, where a thriving arts scene meets exceptional accommodations, dining, and entertainment. As a premier production hub, Knoxville hosts industry leaders like Jupiter Entertainment, Lusid Media, RIVR Media, and more. FILM FEST KNOX filmmakers and film enthusiasts will find diverse filming locations, from urban landscapes to the stunning Smoky Mountains – making our area perfect for your next film project. With its rich culture, southern hospitality, and volunteer spirit, Knox County stands out as the best place to live, work, raise a family, and visit!
INDYA KINCANNON
City of Knoxville Mayor
Welcome to Knoxville! We hope you enjoy both the festival and the unique cultural experience the city offers, especially during the picturesque fall season. Knoxville’s vibrant downtown perfectly complements FILM FEST KNOX, with its walkable streets full of shops, restaurants, and breweries, all just a short stroll from the Regal Riviera. From the festival’s carefully curated programming to the many attractions around town, we’re excited for you to explore everything Knoxville has in store!
CURT WILLIS
Sr. Director, Visit Knoxville Film Office
Thank you for joining us for FILM FEST KNOX!
We started this festival with the idea that so many great stories live in the frames of regional films – distinct stories representing areas and people that set them apart from projects made in traditional film hubs like New York and L.A. We wanted to celebrate these films and their creators while giving an audience a chance to see them as they were meant to be seen: on the big screen.
I couldn’t be more excited about this year’s lineup of films and guests. The collection of talent from the independent filmmaking world is truly impressive. We look forward to once again celebrating regional films and the creative producers that make them happen. If you’re a filmmaker attending the festival, please take the opportunity to network with other storytellers and industry professionals in attendance. As Sr. Director of the VK Film Office, I urge you to take the time to look around our beautiful area, and hopefully, inspiration will strike. I’d be thrilled to answer any questions you may have about why you should call Knoxville home for your next project. If you’re one of the many cinephiles in attendance, we hope you agree when we say, you have found an incredible destination for enjoying and connecting with your passion for great films. We hope you all have an extraordinary experience at FILM FEST KNOX!
DARREN HUGHES
Artistic Director, FILM FEST KNOX
Welcome to the second edition of FILM FEST KNOX!
The tagline for the festival is “showcasing and advocating for personal, ambitious regional cinema.” By “regional” we mean films made outside of the industrial centers of Los Angeles and New York City. We want to champion stories we’ve never heard before — films that take risks and succeed in pulling them off.
That mission runs through the entire 2024 festival program. Revival is a mini retrospective of American regional classics. International Currents includes films shot in the United States, France, and Benin that evoke the character of places we seldom see on-screen. Made in Tennessee and the Elev8or Pitch Competition spotlight the deep wells of talent in our local filmmaking communities.
If there’s a centerpiece of FILM FEST KNOX, it’s the American Regional Cinema Competition, which this year features five remarkable films that represent a diversity of locations, styles, and voices. One of our goals for the fest is to make it a gathering place for industry professionals who work in regional production, so we’re especially grateful to be welcoming so many out-of-town guests, who will be participating in workshops, serving on juries, and discussing their films with audiences.
We hope you enjoy this rare opportunity to immerse yourself in movies for a few days. It’s going to be fun.
Darren Hughes is a longtime University of Tennessee employee and a freelance film critic and programmer who has covered American and international festivals for more than two decades. He is a regular contributor to Filmmaker, Cinema Scope, MUBI’s Notebook, and Senses of Cinema and has published dozens of interviews with some of the world’s leading filmmakers.
OPENING NIGHT FILM
ALL THAT WE LOVE
Friday 8:00PM • Theater 2
Dir. Yen Tan
90 minutes, 2024, USA
Following the death of the family dog, Emma Gwon (Margaret Cho) is faced with an empty nest and is compelled to forge deeper connections with the people around her. Despite good intentions, her midlife awakening makes everything more chaotic for everyone in her path.
This includes her estranged ex-husband Andy (Kenneth Choi), who has returned from Singapore after his career implodes and he’s forced to moved in with his sister Raven (Atsuko Okatsuka); their free-spirited daughter Maggie (Alice Lee), who’s relocating to Australia with her boyfriend (Devon Bostick) without Emma’s approval; her best friend Stan (Jesse Tyler Ferguson), who’s also experienced a loss and is expressing his grief through a lifestyle makeover; and her work colleague Kayla (Missi Pyle), who fosters animals and may just have a four-legged friend to soothe Emma’s woes.
All That We Love is a heartfelt and poignant depiction of grief and what it means to start anew. Through richly drawn characters, the film gently blends sorrow with insightful humor in its exploration of themes that are universal to all of us: aging, friendship, parenthood, mortality, past loves, second chances, and the profound connection with our pets.
Co-Writer and Director Yen Tan and Producer Kelly Williams will be in attendance.
AMERICAN REGIONAL FILM
ROBERT COLOM
Robert Colom is a Cuban film producer, writer, and graphic designer born in Miami, whose work illuminates stories of Florida and the Latin American diaspora. He is a member of the Caribbean creative collective Third Horizon, and has been a programmer for their flagship initiative, Third Horizon Film Festival, since 2021. His films have played worldwide, including most notably at Sundance Film Festival, Miami Film Festival, and Berlinale, and have been acquired by HBO, PBS, and Criterion Channel.
NELLIE KILLIAN
Nellie Killian is one of today’s most inspired film curators. In addition to cofounding the Migrating Forms Film Festival, she’s worked with an array of A-List festivals, institutions, and venues, including BAM, Anthology Film Archives, Metrograph, the Museum of the Moving Image, the Quad Cinema, and the Criterion Channel.
C. MASON WELLS
C. Mason Wells is a screenwriter, producer, actor, and film distributor based in New York. He most recently co-wrote and co-produced Between the Temples, which premiered in competition at the Sundance Film Festival and was distributed theatrically by Sony Pictures Classics. He is currently the Director of Distribution (US) for MUBI.
MADE IN TENNESSEE
BRIAN LOSCHIAVO
Brian A. Loschiavo is a producer, director, screenwriter and co-founder of Riverside Entertainment, the Nashville and Los Angeles-based production company specializing in branded content and original film and television. He’s best known for Bluebird (2019), Manodrome (2023), Midland: The Sonic Ranch (2021), and Making Modern with Brooke and Brice (2021). He oversees all original development and production for Riverside and resides in Nashville with his wife and two sons.
KEITH THOMAS
Keith Thomas is Head of Development for Marcus Entertainment. Thomas has created memorable television series, branded content, and short films as a producer, director, and director of photography for over 25 years. His television credits include The Craftsman, Snapped, Say Yes to the Dress, My Strange Addiction, and Fatal Attraction, among many others. Prior to joining Marcus Entertainment, Thomas was a launch executive at Magnolia Network, where he became a key player in one of the most successful rollouts of a linear channel in this century.
BETSY PICKLE
Betsy Pickle is a freelance film critic and journalist. She was the film critic at the Knoxville News Sentinel from 1985 to 2008. A Knoxville native, she graduated from the University of Tennessee with a B.S. in communications. In 1992, Betsy co-founded the Southeastern Film Critics Association, a group that has grown to more than 40 members in nine states. She served as SEFCA’s president 2001-2004. She is a past member of the advisory council of the Tennessee Film, Entertainment and Music Commission and has served as a judge at the Nashville Film Festival, the Asheville Film Festival and the late Valleyfest Film Festival. Her reviews and features have appeared in newspapers from Atlanta to Anchorage and Stuart, Florida, to Sacramento, California.
FILM JURIES
ELEV8OR PITCH LIVE JUDGING PANEL
KRISTIN SHRADER
With 20 years of experience in entertainment publicity, Kristin Shrader is currently an independent awards consultant working alongside the public relations teams at Warner Bros. Discovery, FOX Entertainment, and Netflix. Prior to launching her own firm, she oversaw communications for series and brand initiatives at the #1 entertainment cable network, USA. She previously held positions at Bravo, Oxygen Media, and Fuse TV where she executed unscripted series campaigns and corporate PR initiatives. Shrader began her publicity career at the original entertainment PR firm, Rogers & Cowan, training under Co-Chairman, Paul Bloch, where she worked with the biggest stars in Hollywood.
TAYLOR SHUNG
Taylor Shung is a producer born and raised in New York City. She began her career in production working with filmmakers and artists such as Kogonada, Kahlil Joseph, and The Daniels. Her most recent film credits include Celine Song’s Oscar Nominated film Past Lives and Chloe Zhao’s Oscar Winning Nomadland. As a Producer she has helped bring to the screen films by emerging filmmakers such Zia Anger (My First Film), Hannah Peterson (The Graduates), Olivia West Lloyd (Somewhere Quiet) and the filmmaking duo Kentucker Audley & Albert Birney (Strawberry Mansion). In 2019, Taylor had her Broadway debut as a Video Producer for Ivo Van Hove’s revival of West Side Story. Taylor is a 2019 Sundance Creative Producing Fellow.
KELLY WILLIAMS
Kelly Williams is a creative producer and co-founder, with Jonathan Duffy, of Ten Acre Films. His credits include six features that have premiered at Sundance, including Light from Light, Sorry to Bother You (Independent Spirit Award winner), The Long Dumb Road, and Pit Stop (Independent Spirit Award nominee). Other films include: Mark, Mary & Some Other People (Tribeca 2021), No Future (Tribeca 2021), and I Used To Go Here (SXSW 2020) His latest production, What Happens Later, stars Meg Ryan and David Duchovny and opens in cinemas this November.
PAUL HARRILL
Paul Harrill’s films have screened in cinemas, on television, and via streaming platforms around the world. Harrill’s second feature, Light From Light, premiered at Sundance Film Festival and was theatrically released by Grasshopper Film, and named to several year-end lists. His previous films include Something, Anything (New York Times Critics’ Pick) and the short Gina, An Actress, Age 29 (Sundance Jury Prize). He has led workshops and/ or mentored lab projects for IFP/The Gotham, Oolite Arts (Miami), Sidewalk, and the Nashville Film Festival. Harrill is Co-Chair of the University of Tennessee Cinema Studies program and one of FILM FEST KNOX’s CoFounders.
MADE IN TENNESSEE SELECTION COMMITTEE
AMANDA THORNTON
Amanda Thornton works at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, but her passion has always been movies. She previously managed film festivals nationwide for Regal and has volunteered at Nashville and Knoxville Film Festivals.
ELENI PALIS
Eleni Palis is an Assistant Professor of English and Cinema Studies at the University of Tennessee. She is the author of the book Classical Projections: The Practice and Politics of Film Quotation (Oxford University Press, 2022).
VARADILA NURDIN
Varadila Nurdin is a specialist in documentary project development and film financing forum management. She was a Program Director for Docs by the Sea, a documentary incubator and pitching forum for Southeast Asian documentaries held annually in Indonesia.
ERIC DAWSON
Eric Dawson is Manager of the Knox County Public Library’s Calvin M. McClung Historical Collection. Previously, he served as head of the Library’s A/V archive, TAMIS. He is a writer and archival filmmaker whose films include Electric Appalachia and Suttree
ELEV8OR PITCH TOP 8 SELECTION COMMITTEE
CHAD CUNNINGHAM
Chad Cunningham is an accomplished writer and director based in Knoxville, TN. His films have been showcased at festivals worldwide, and his work has been featured on platforms such as CMT, Director’s Notes, BooooooomTV, Omeleto, and Film Shortage. Chad’s acclaimed short film Catacombs won the inaugural Elev8or Pitch Competition at FILM FEST KNOX
AMY HUBBARD
(ELEV8OR PITCH COORDINATOR)
Amy Leigh Hubbard has worked in TV, film and digital media since 2012. Notable work includes co-producing If Dreams were Lightning: a Rural Healthcare Documentary, a film for ITVS by Ramin Bahrani, Light from Light, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2019 and director/producer on several holiday themed digital pieces with HGTV.
GARRY WILLIAMS
Garry Williams has written screenplays for MGM, UA, Paramount, FoxTV, and the BBC. He has worked with directors/producers Stephen Gyllenhaal and Sydney Pollack, and has a co-story credit on Larger than Life, starring Bill Murray and Matthew McConnaughey. He also shares a co-screenplay credit on SO B. IT. His most recent screenplay, Tempest, is currently in post-production.
How much should you crowdfund for? As much as you need to move your project forward! In this workshop, we’ll teach you how to build a budget, utilize loans to make up your budget (conceptually as well as literally), navigate the ask, break down your script, and get creative with ways to cut costs without sacrificing your vision.
EMILY BEST
Founder and CEO, Seed&Spark
Emily Best is the CEO & Founder of Seed&Spark, a place where creators, audiences and organizations work together to tell stories that celebrate diverse voices and foster vibrant conversation. Seed&Spark started with a group of independent creators after the challenges and lessons of Best producing Emily’s first feature film, Like the Water. The Seed&Spark team has developed a best-inindustry crowdfunding platform that retains the storytelling focus and key features that contributed to the success of Like the Water
NEW DIRECTIONS IN REGIONAL FILMMAKING
Cinema is at a crossroads. With changes in production tools, the evolving world of exhibition, the potential to virtually connect with collaborators and audiences, and the increasing competitiveness between states to recruit out-of-state production, there have never been more opportunities and challenges producing films outside the commercial centers of Los Angeles and New York. Moderated by Scott Macaulay, film producer and Editor-in-Chief of Filmmaker Magazine, this panel will survey the landscape of regional filmmaking with five experienced directors and producers.
SCOTT MACAULAY
Film Producer, Editor-in-Chief of Filmmaker Magazine
Scott Macaulay is a New York-based producer and the Editor-in-Chief of Filmmaker magazine, the leading American magazine devoted to independent film. As a producer, along with his partner Robin O’Hara and his production company Forensic Films, Macaulay has produced or executive-produced many award-winning features. They include Peter Sollett’s Raising Victor Vargas, Harmony Korine’s Gummo and julien donkey-boy, Alice Wu’s Saving Face, Tom Noonan’s What Happened Was and The Wife, Jesse Peretz’s The Chateau, Bryan Barber’s Idlewild, John Leguizamo’s Undefeated, and James Ponsoldt’s Off the Black. In 1998 Macaulay and O’Hara were the recipients of an Independent Spirit Award for their producing work in independent film
AMERICAN REGIONAL CINEMA
BITTERROOT
Saturday 1:00PM • Theater 2
Dir. Vera Brunner-Sung
92 minutes, 2024, USA
Reeling from a failed marriage and in need of comfort and a new perspective, a middle-aged man takes care of his aging mother within the deceptively tranquil landscape of rural Montana. Shot in Missoula, Montana. 2024 Special Jury Mention Winner for Cinematography in a U.S. Feature and Nominee Founders Award for Best U.S. Narrative Feature and at its premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival. Starring Wa Yang, Qu Kue, and April Charlo. Writer/Director Vera Brunner-Sung and Producer Kazua Melissa Vang will be in attendance.
BOB TREVINO LIKES IT
Saturday 5:30PM • Theater 2
Dir. Tracia Laymon
102 minutes, 2024, USA
When lonely 20-something Lily Trevino accidentally befriends a stranger online who shares the same name as her own self-centered father, encouragement and support from this new Bob Trevino could change her life. Inspired by a true story. Shot in Louisville, Kentucky. Winner of the Grand Jury Award and Audience Award for Narrative Feature at 2024 SXSW Film Festival; Starring Barbie Ferreira (Euphoria), John Leguizamo (John Wick, Moulin Rouge, Encanto), and French Stewart (3rd Rock from the Sun). Writer/Director Tracie Laymon will be in attendance.
AMERICAN REGIONAL CINEMA
GRIFFIN IN SUMMER
Friday 6:00PM • Theater 1
Dir. Nicholas Colia
90 minutes, 2024, USA
Fourteen-year-old Griffin Nafly is the most ambitious playwright of his generation. But once he meets handsome 25 year old handyman Brad, his life (and play) will never be the same. Shot in Richmond, Virginia. 2024 Winner Founders Award of Best U.S. Narrative Feature, Best Screenplay for U.S. Narrative Feature, and Special Jury Mention for New Narrative Director Award at the Tribeca Film Festival. Starring Everett Blunck, Melanie Lynskey (Two and a Half Men, Heavenly Creatures), and Owen Teague (NCIS: Los Angeles, It). Writer/Director Nicholas Colia, Producer Juliet Berman and Lead Actor Everett Blunck will be in attendance.
THE WORLD DROPS DEAD
Sunday 1:45PM • Theater 1
Dir. Brandon Colvin
71 minutes, 2024, USA
Claire struggles to cope as the shock of her father’s suicide ripples through her small Quaker community. Desperate to reunite with the only person who seemed to understand her, she reaches out to her father across the boundary of death. Shot in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Starring Yumna Jane, Sanam Erfani, and Larry Ratliff. Writer/ Director Brandon Colvin, will be in attendance.
AMERICAN REGIONAL CINEMA
TO KILL A WOLF
Saturday 8:00PM • Theater 2
Dir. Kelsey Taylor
92 minutes, 2024, USA
In a modern re-imagining of Little Red Riding Hood, a social pariah discovers a teenage runaway in the Oregon Wilderness and does his best to help her find a way home. Shot in Rhododendron, Oregon. Starring Maddison Brown (Strangerland, Dynasty), Ivan Martin (Ozark, Suits), Michael Esper (Fallout, The Creator) and Kaitlin Doubleday (Catch Me If You Can, Empire). Writer/Director Kelsey Taylor and Producer/ Cinematographer Adam Lee will be in attendance.
InsPYRE is proud to support FILM FEST KNOX with the design and construction of the beautiful custom trophies for the American Regional Cinema Competition. Started by talented metal artist, Preston Farabow, insPYRE is a new nonprofit school for welding and metalwork in Knoxville, teaching marginalized and at-risk individuals about transformation through metalwork and empowering them with real life skills. There is no ‘typical’ student: we welcome everyone, from young adults aging out of foster programs to women who have been abused and sheltered to recovering alcoholics, addicts, and the formerly incarcerated. Our premise is simple: in metalwork, nothing is irreconcilable. You can make mistakes, and you can find solutions. We believe that, regardless of the past, our lives are enriched by the stories that we live, and healing occurs when we, as a community, hold space for the underserved to tell their own stories and to begin their respective transformations. You as our neighbors and friends provide the spark. You can insPYRE a difference by making a donation or by signing up for your own welding class online at: www.inspyre.us
ELEV8OR PITCH FILMS
For three months, 21 filmmaking teams developed and produced short films as a proof-of-concept for a feature film. Come see the world premiere of the top 8 projects, and then hear the filmmakers pitch their features to a panel of judges in front of a live audience!
THURSDAY
LIVE PITCH COMPETITION
7:00PM • Theater 1
Below are the top 8 teams from the Elev8or Pitch Competition that will have their 5-to-8-minute proof-of-concept short films screened, followed by their feature concept pitch and a Q&A session with a panel of judges in front of a live audience.
KEEP WATCH
DAD’S LAST BEACH TRIP TO HELL WITH IT GATEWAY
SATURDAY
ELEV8OR PITCH SCREENINGS
11:00AM & 1:15PM • Theater 1
A SCOUT IS KIND HOW TO GET THE GIRL EPISODES OUTLAWS
All proof-of-concept short film submissions for the Elev8or Pitch Competition will be screened.
11:00 BLOCK
TO HELL WITH IT THICKER THAN WATER
KEEP WATCH SCREAMS OF THE BLUFF HUNTER
THE THINGS WE DON’T TALK ABOUT OUTLAWS THE WITHIN STILL WATER
DARBY
1:15 BLOCK
HOW TO GET THE GIRL RIPPLES
A SCOUT IS KIND PRIVATE MOMENT GATEWAY
WRITER’S BLOCK DAD’S LAST BEACH TRIP DAYS END CONTEXT FROM THE RIVER TO TENNESSEE EPISODES
FILM FEST KNOX
MADE IN TENNESSEE
ANGEL OF LIGHT
Saturday 9:45PM • Theater 1
Dir. Crue Smith
90 minutes, 2024, USA
Diagnosed with cancer, a car salesman asks a pastor to help him get right with God. When the salesman discovers the pastor can peform miracles, he begs the pastor to heal him — in exchange for the salesman’s family.
GLASS VALLEY
Saturday 5:30PM • Theater 1
Dir. Nicholas Crockett
65 minutes, 2024, USA
Upon returning to his hometown in rural Appalachia, a young man is reunited with his estranged father and introduced to a seedy side of life. Short films The Places You Go and Solo Otro Dia screening before Glass Valley.
MADE IN TENNESSEE SHORTS #1
Saturday 3:30PM • Theater 1
THE LEGEND OF BILL
Dir. Jacob Birmingham
6 minutes
PERFECT WORDS
Dir. Anna Clary
8 minutes
THE BOOTH
Dir. Julee Ellis
7 minutes
THE BUOYANCY OF APPLES
Dir. Tori Mills
11 minutes
HOW TO SUE THE KLAN
Dir. John Beder
35 minutes
CLOSE THE DOOR
Dir. Michelle Ford
3 minutes
BLESS HER HEART
Dir. Eli Heaton, Callie Bacon
13 minutes
SOLO OTRO DIA
Dir. Matt Webb
7 minutes
Before Glass Valley
THE
PLACES
YOU GO
Dir. Shannon Ferguson
4 minutes
Before Glass Valley
MADE IN TENNESSEE SHORTS #2
Sunday 12:00PM • Theater 2
BAKING AND ENTERING
Dir. Cole Keisling
4 minutes
HELL IS HIGH SCHOOL THEATRE
Dir. Leigh McTeer Shields
9 minutes
MIDNIGHT NOON
Dir. Kai Wingo
10 minutes
PLUS ONE
Dir. Maddilyn Shea
23 minutes
FROG-MAN V
Dir. Rachael Camp
8 minutes
BATMITE
Dir. Jake Morlock
12 minutes
WHERE THE BULLETS GO
Dir. Cody Duncum
14 minutes
PATCH
Dir. John Thomas Dickson
6 minutes
INTERNATIONAL CURRENTS
ANA Y LA DISTANCIA
Saturday 11:00AM • Theater 2
Dir. Hansel Porras García
10 minutes, 2024, USA
A Cuban mother exiled in Miami anxiously awaits the arrival of her son, who is crossing Central American borders to join her. Before Dahomey.
DAHOMEY
Saturday 11:00AM • Theater 2
Dir. Mati Diop
68 minutes, 2024, France and Benin
In 2021, 26 objects from the Kingdom of Dahomey leave Paris and are returned to present-day Benin. How should these art treasures, stolen from ancestors, be received in a country which has reinvented itself in their absence?
EEPHUS
Sunday 4:00PM • Theater 2
Dir. Carson Lund
98 minutes, 2024, USA
Grown men’s recreational baseball game stretches to extra innings on their beloved field’s final day before demolition. Humor and nostalgia intertwine as daylight fades, signaling an era’s end. Writer/Producer Michael Basta will be in attendance.
THE DAMNED
Saturday 3:15PM • Theater 2
Dir. Roberto Minervini
89 minutes, 2024, USA
In the winter of 1862, during the Civil War, the U.S. Army sends a volunteer company to patrol the uncharted Western territories. Actors Tim Carlson, Noah Carlson, Judah Carlson will be in attendance.
INTERNATIONAL CURRENTS
THE EMPIRE
Sunday 7:00PM • Theater 2
Dir. Bruno Dumont
93 minutes, 2024, France
In a picturesque fishing village in Northern France, the birth of a special child unleashes a secret war between extraterrestrial forces of good and evil.
FLICKER AND WOW SHORTS
POTEMKIN PIECE
Sunday 2:00PM • Theater 2
Flicker and Wow Shorts
Dir. Justin C. Rhody
2 minutes, 2022, Various
A collaborative deconstruction/destruction of a Battleship Potemkin 35mm trailer created with nearly 80 collaborators through the mail during lockdown. Each person was sent halfsecond long strips of the film to manipulate in any way they wanted. Once returned, the film strips were spliced together in a new sequence creating a chance-driven score from the optical soundtrack. A messy experiment in montage and cut up techniques made by a diverse cast of artists, friends and loved ones.
AGAINST TIME
Sunday 2:00PM • Theater 2
Flicker and Wow Shorts
Dir. Ben Russell
23 minutes, 2022, France
A tone-poem in blue and red. Blue > a soundtrack melted out of a Cyndi Lauper CD leads into an(other) attempt to find a way through the fog of recent years. Filmed between the Carpathian Mountains, Vilnius punk clubs and the Belarusian Independence Day celebration in 2019; inspired by the work of the late filmmaker Jonathan Schwartz. Red > a structuralist diary: mood + sea + movement. A long fade, an index of one kind of everything at once, a soft immersion. Filmed in/around Marseille between 2021-2022.
ALL FLESH IS GRASS
Sunday 2:00PM • Theater 2
Dir. Nathan Swann
43 minutes, 2024, USA
Filmed as a series of 20 durational sequences, All Flesh is Grass is an exercise in landscape cinema that delves into themes of time, place, temporality, and spirit.
DESERT HEARTS
Saturday 7:45PM • Theater 1
Dir. Donna Deitch
91 minutes, 1985
While waiting for her divorce papers, a repressed professor is unexpectedly seduced by a carefree, spirited young woman.
LET’S SCARE
JESSICA TO DEATH
Friday 10:00PM • Theater 1
Dir. John D. Hancock
89 minutes, 1971
A recently institutionalized woman has bizarre experiences after moving into a supposedly haunted country farmhouse and fears she may be losing her sanity once again.
NORTHERN LIGHTS
Friday 5:45PM • Theater 2
Dir. John Hanson & Rob Nilsson
89 minutes, 1978
The bitter-sweet story of young lovers caught up in an political struggle waged by farmers against the grain trade, the banks and the railroads, Northern Lights brings back a forgotten era of American history and evokes the austere beauty of the Northern Plains.
WANDA
Sunday 11:30AM • Theater 1
Dir. Barbara Loden
103 minutes, 1970
Wanda, a lonely housewife, drifts through mining country until she meets a petty thief who takes her in.
ABOUT US
The Visit Knoxville Film Office serves to strengthen Knoxville’s economy through the promotion of the city as a premiere filming location. By attracting motion media companies to Knoxville through the marketing of its locations, accommodations, services, crew, and talent, the Film Office fosters the creation of jobs in the area, stimulates business opportunities, and generates exposure. Knoxville has four times been named one of MovieMaker Magazine’s Best Places to Live and Work as a Moviemaker. For more information visit filmknoxvilletn.com and follow us on Facebook.
The Public Cinema was created to share vital works of contemporary international and American cinema—works that might otherwise be unseen or overlooked by Knoxville audiences. Most of the films screened are discoveries from the festival circuit; many are Tennessee or regional premieres. Whatever is screened, the only agenda is to create a space for cinema as an art form and to promote discussion among discerning moviegoers. For more information visit publiccinema.org
Regal, a subsidiary of the Cineworld Group, operates one of the largest and most geographically diverse theatre circuits in the United States, consisting of 5,818 screens in 429 theatres in 41 states along with the District of Columbia and Guam as of July 31, 2023. We believe that the size, reach and quality of the company’s theatre circuit provides its patrons with a convenient and enjoyable moviegoing experience. We are committed to being “The Best Place to Watch a Movie!” Additional information is available on Regal’s website: REGmovies.com
SCAN THE QR CODE FOR GREAT DOWNTOWN DINING OPTIONS
Dining options in and around downtown Knoxville are ever-expanding. Many restaurants are within walking distance of some of Knoxville’s finest hotels. Many restaurants, ranging from award-winning chef operations to Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives favorites, can also be found throughout the downtown area.
ADDITIONAL EVENTS
OPENING COCKTAIL
Thursday • The Vault • 5:00PM
531 S Gay St, Knoxville, TN 37902
Join us for an intimate evening at The Vault, a below-thesurface cocktail lounge reminiscent of old Hollywood. Mix and mingle with filmmakers, fellow VIP Passholders and Co-Founders of FILM FEST KNOX. Artistic Director, Darren Hughes, will share some insights and highlights of this year’s festival.
Open bar to attendees. Suggested attire: smart casual.
Open to VIP Passholders only
OPENING NIGHT PARTY
Friday • Five Thirty Lounge • 10:00PM
530 S Gay St, Knoxville, TN 37902
Join us for a night of celebration and networking at the Five Thirty Lounge atop the Hyatt Place hotel, an elevated experience with a spectacular view of downtown and the Smoky Mountains. Network with this year’s special guests, including jurors, filmmakers, and critics. Open bar and heavy hors d’oeuvres to attendees.
Suggested attire: smart casual. Open to VIP Passholders and invited guests only.
Open to VIP Passholders only
CLOSING NIGHT PARTY
Sunday • Scruffy City Hall • 7:00PM
32 Market Square, Knoxville, TN 37902
After the Awards Ceremony, send off the 2024 FILM FEST KNOX at Scruffy City Hall, known as “Knoxville’s Cathedral of Entertainment and Libations,” with three levels overlooking Historic Market Square.
Two drink tickets and pub-style appetizers to attendees. Suggested attire: casual.
Open to Full Festival and VIP Passholders only
FILM FEST KNOX FOUNDERS
KIM BUMPAS
President, Visit Knoxville
CURT WILLIS
Sr. Director, Visit Knoxville Film Office
DARREN HUGHES
Artistic Director of FILM FEST KNOX & Co-Founder, The Public Cinema
PAUL HARRILL
Elev8or Development Lab Director and Co-Founder, The Public Cinema
ADDITIONAL FILM FEST KNOX TEAM MEMBERS
CLINT CASEY
Managing Director of Creative Services & Market Research, Visit Knoxville
KRISTEN COMBS
Director of Communications & Social Strategies, Visit Knoxville
KELLI GIBSON
Sr. Director of Convention Services, Visit Knoxville
BRAD KEATON
Creative Director, Visit Knoxville
ALYSSA SLOAN
Sr. Director of Marketing, Visit Knoxville
CHRIS DOTSON
Executive Producer, EonEntertainment Inc.
REGAL REPRESENTATIVES
RICHARD GROVER Head of Marketing
DEBBIE PENNIE
Director of Film - North West Region & Art/Independent Film
