Macon film festival “most friendly” of its kind, expands city’s entertainment legacy

The 19th annual Macon Film Festival will showcase international and local filmmakers with 87 screenings across several venues including Douglass Theatre.

The festival will take place from Aug. 15 through 18, with films across multiple categories including documentary shorts, student shorts, Georgia-made films and LGBTQ shorts.

Tabitha Walker, who handles the programming for the Macon Film Festival, said the festival allows for people to not only see films they usually wouldn’t be exposed to, but also lets people meet and interact with filmmakers.

It can be daunting for filmmakers to come out and share their work, she said, but Macon does a good job of welcoming artists.

“I can honestly say that Macon is one of the most filmmaker friendly festivals,” she said. “I’ve seen patrons get up from the dinner table at the Rookery when they see a little filmmaker tag on a filmmaker’s cap and go up to them and ask them what their movie is.”

Kailey Rhodes, an actress starring in “The Way We Speak,” one of the films submitted to the festival, and Stratford graduate, said Macon is the perfect place for people to tell stories about the south.

“The Way We Speak,” directed by Ian Ebright and headlined by Patrick Fabian from Better Call Saul, is being screened at the Douglass Theatre Friday afternoon under the Narrative Feature category.

Rhodes just so happens to be back in Macon at the same time as the film festival, but she said she is “honored” to be among the many people who grew up doing theater in Macon and are now giving back to the community.

Rhodes attributes a lot of her acting prowess to Theatre Macon, where she has her picture hanging in the lobby, and their youth actors company. She said theater helps kids “actualize” a path through the film industry.

“We need to do everything we can to keep those theaters healthy because that’s where we grow our talent that brings success back to Macon in the form of a film festival,” she said.

Hundreds of films are submitted each year leading up to the festival, which then go through a couple of members on the programming team who pick out which ones go on to be screened at the festival.

Films in each category are judged by a panel of former festival alumni and local filmmakers, and the winners are announced via virtual ceremony following the festival. Submissions for next year’s festival open right after.

The festival is funded by various local foundations, companies and individual contributions, said Justin Andrews, the president of the film festival’s board of directors. 

Andrews, who has volunteered at the festival since he was a teenager, said recent shoot locations in Macon, like Luther Williams Field where the movie “42” was shot, have enriched its film history, giving them something to show filmmakers.

“Since Macon has become a major hub of the filming industry over the past few years, it’s important that we have this festival bring in different filmmakers and show people Macon is an amazing place to film,” he said.

In addition to the screenings, Macon Film Fest has several workshops scheduled, which will handle entertainment law, the incentives to filming in Macon and marketing indie films. There are also a handful of parties and partnership events with local businesses.

A burgeoning film industry has proved to be a “win-win” for filmmakers, the city and local businesses, Walker said. 

“You see people coming downtown and people traveling to Macon and they’re eating in restaurants downtown and they’re shopping downtown and they’re staying in hotels downtown,” she said.

MFF has also partnered with the Museum of Arts and Sciences to utilize its surround screen, as part of its Fulldome category, or immersive, artistic experimental film showcase.

Tickets can be purchased online or at the Grand Opera House during the festival. Tickets available include the single block ticket for $15, the day ticket for $30, or options for the entire week with the screening pass for $75 or the all-access pass for $175. Check out the full schedule at https://2024maconfilmfestival.sched.com/