Macon Film Festival kicks off next week. Here’s what you need to know:
The 2020 Macon Film Festival starts Thursday, so it’s time to buy tickets and get familiar with this year’s hybrid online and in-person events.
“Everything is up and running and ready to go,” said festival chairman Steven Fulbright. “Films are ready to stream when the time comes, live showings are set and tickets for the virtual streaming channel and live shows can all be gotten online. We’re just waiting for the big day so we can all start enjoying it.”
Due to COVID-19, 2020’s 15th-anniversary festival is a hybrid festival with most films scheduled online for two viewings each over at 17-day period with just a handful of features presented for limited numbers at live showings in order to meet social distancing and health guidelines.
Organizers agreed it’s wise to get familiar early with the extensive schedule of films and workings of the streaming service at www.filmfestivalflix.com.
The festival runs Aug. 13-30.
However, an important part of the festival, the Museum of Arts and Sciences’ Fulldome Film Festival in the Planetarium, begins Aug. 11. Its presentations are in-person at 2 p.m. and limited to 35. Admission is included with standard museum entry on a first-come, first-served basis.
The first week will feature science and education fulldome films, the second week kids and family presentations and the third week art-oriented works.
Also scheduled for the fulldome festival are separately ticketed weekend presentations.
“Aug. 15 and 16 at 2 p.m. we’re really excited about a special viewing of the world’s first full-length documentary made especially for the fulldome format called ‘Indirect Actions.’ We’re especially delighted the filmmaker is planning to be here to discuss it with us. ”
Aug. 21 at the museum an art immersive showcase is set at 7 p.m. and Aug. 28 at 7 p.m. there will be a showcase of the fulldome festival’s best films.
Essentially, ticketing to the festival runs like this: fulldome special features are $25 each, all access tickets to the main festival’s online streamed films are $50, individually purchased streamed features and short film blocks are $10, and in-person featured films are $20 at The Grand Opera House.
Two free drive-in films are scheduled at the Museum of Arts and Sciences’ amphitheater, but reservations must be made to ensure health precautions.
Tickets, schedules and information are online and a good jumping-off point is www.maconfilmfestival.com/tickets2020.
But don’t be surprised when once ready to buy, purchasers are routed to one of three different sites depending on the film’s setting. Ticketing is being handled by sites operated by filmfestivalflix.com for streamed films, Mercer University/The Grand Opera House’s ticketing site for live showings, and eventbright.com for fulldome features and free showings at the amphitheater.
Sound complicated?
It may seem so when first diving into the virtual festival’s workings but a little poking around and things become clear. Remember, it’s all innovation and new to everyone – organizers and guests alike – but after a few mouse clicks and a few days sifting through schedules, it’s second nature.
From my own experience, scoping out the festival site(s) online in advance versus waiting until the last minute seemed important and switching to having a first look at schedules and ticket purchasing on my laptop versus phone proved beneficial - with the maconfilmfestival.com/tickets2020 page being a real godsend.
Simply put, it’s the sort of great problem Macon Film Festival presents the community every year: so much to choose from among such great international, national and local independent films.
“I’m honestly shocked at the huge number of films we’ve ended up with and all that’s been accomplished to make this a virtual festival,” Fulbright said. “We went from not sure there would even be a festival or how many films we’d have to it being something pretty spectacular to enjoy partially live but most extensively in the comfort of our own homes. Especially considering getting to show live Allen Farst’s documentary on our own Chuck Leavell, ‘The Tree Man.’ If you’ve seen the preview on our website or elsewhere you know it’s something very special. If you haven’t seen the preview you should look right now. It’s incredibly interesting, of course, but I have to admit it brought tears to my eyes, too.”
As well as preparing and getting tickets for the Macon Film Festival, don’t forget it’s First Friday. There’s a lot going on at venues and galleries across downtown, all geared toward providing an entertaining online experience or safe in-person activity. Search www.facebook.com for August First Friday for leads on what to do.
Contact writer Michael W. Pannell at mwpannell@gmail.com.
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Links to the Macon Film Festival:
maconfilmfestival.com/tickets2020