Macon Film Festival to return in late August with hybrid of in-person, virtual showings

The Macon Film Festival starts Aug. 19 and the group behind it has just released names of the bulk of films they’re showing as well as where and when they’ll show and how much it will cost to attend.

It’s no surprise the festival will be an in-person and a virtually attended hybrid presentation this year following last year’s almost fully online presentation due to COVID-19. Happily, the in-person showings are bumped back up to the starring role with more than 85 films to be screened in three Macon venues Aug. 19-22 — essentially the third weekend in August.

The news concerning the virtual festival is just as good, though: it will be separated out to its own weekend, the fourth weekend in August, Aug. 26-29. Though live festival information is pretty well set, Steven Fulbright, head of the festival’s board, said many details are still being put together for the virtual festival and will be made known by early August.

Even so, Fulbright said the second weekend will be comprised of virtually the same films and presented on Macon Film Festival’s channel on Film Festival Flix, which is available on Roku, Apple TV+, Fire TV and Android TV.

“So we’re doing an in-person, traditional festival then extending it virtually for those who missed out,” Fulbright said. “Or maybe somebody at the live festival didn’t get to see a particular film they wanted to or maybe they want to watch something again they did see. All the options are there.”

Prices for the live festival are $10 for a single-film screening or block of short films, $25 for a day pass for Friday, Saturday or Sunday and $65 for an all-screenings pass for all three days.

The festival’s opening film Aug. 19 — the Thursday leading into the live weekend — is a free, yet-to-be-named, family-friendly movie on the grounds of the Mill Hill Community Arts Center at 213 Clinton St.

And more news: the Macon festival will continue showing free, outdoor movies in the community throughout the year.

“We’re excited to expand the festival further into the community with these free showings,” Fulbright said. “We can do it thanks to the support of a Downtown Challenge 2.0 grant from the Community Foundation of Central Georgia. There will be six free movies through next year’s festival in parks throughout Macon’s urban core.”

A schedule of the live festival’s overall showings and links to ticketing is online now at maconfilmfestival.com which allows festival-goers to curate their own viewing plan.

As in years past, films primarily come from across the nation and around the world but also from Middle Georgia filmmakers. Categories range from Narrative Features, Documentary, Narrative Shorts, LGBTQ Shorts and Student Shorts to several Georgia Made blocks including two Macon filmmaker showcases.

And of course, there will again be the Fulldome category with creative shorts and features shown at the Museum of Arts and Science’s Mark Smith Planetarium. The museum has become an internationally recognized leader, promoter and showcase for fulldome and immersive films and filmmakers.

With all the good news about the festival, organizers agree the most prominent is getting to return to a big, live-audience festival even while keeping an eye on COVID concerns and safety for those attending.

Fulbright said there’s nothing like being part of a live audience and experiencing a film and its laughs, tears and even moans together.

Festival co-founder Tabitha Lynne Walker programs the festival’s showings each year and said in a statement she’s proud of this year’s fare.

“After a successful virtual festival in 2020, we are excited for the opportunity to be back in person as well as continuing to provide a virtual option for our audience,” she said. “With thought-provoking documentaries, impactful shorts, entertaining features and immersive fulldome content this year’s collection of official selection films have a little something for everyone.”

Walker is herself a local filmmaker/cinematographer and owner-operator of Big Hair Productions.

The 2021 festival is the 16th Macon Film Festival and this year showings will be at two downtown locations, the Douglass Theatre and Georgia Sports Hall of Fame as well as the Museum of Arts & Sciences on Forsyth Road.

Prior to COVID-19, the event was at the museum and upwards of a half-dozen downtown sites.

“We’re not quite to the levels we were in 2019, our biggest year, but I think we’ll be back there quickly and I think this year people are more than ready to get back to it,” Fulbright said. “That goes for people who live here and those who travel here to attend. The festival has a big tourism impact. Even though this year is smaller, it seems like Tabitha and all our volunteers and board members are working twice as hard.”

He said that’s due to the many unknowns of planning such events in the age of COVID and coming up with new ways to doing things — but do them well.

The live-festival schedule at maconfilmfestival.com makes for interesting exploration for anyone interested in film and poking around Walker’s Big Hair site at tabithalynnewalker.com is worthwhile, too.

Contact writer Michael W. Pannell at mwpannell@gmail.com.