11/14/2024 to 11/19/2024
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Indie Memphis Film Festival
Malco Studio on the Square 2105 Court Avenue Memphis, Tennessee 38104 United States,
The festival is a showcase for the best of contemporary independent features, documentaries, short films, international art house films, experimental films, music-themed films, and recent restorations of older cinematic gems. 2023’s festival unfolded across several venues, including Crosstown Theater, Circuit Playhouse, Hattiloo Theatre, Playhouse on the Square, Malco Studio on the Square, and online during a span of six days, creating a community-friendly atmosphere unique on the festival circuit.
Returning for the seventh year is the annual Black Creators Forum Symposium, comprised of workshops and invited speakers led by notable Black filmmakers and critics. Previous speakers have included Barry Jenkins, Shaka King, Maya Cade, Ashley Clark, Numa Perrier, and Gina Duncan. The aim is to ease the barrier of entry for black artists to work in film, and to foster a strong network of collaborators.
The festival celebrates new independent films as well as important independent film history. Indie Memphis has screened mini-retrospectives of the work of Abel Ferrara, Hong Sang-soo, Sara Driver, and Sean Price Williams. Other recent highlights included Jim Jarmusch in person for a 30th Anniversary screening of the Memphis-shot MYSTERY TRAIN.
The festival has a special interest in music documentaries, comedies, and “in-between films” (films that mix experimental with narrative or documentary and/or are medium length).
Festival attendees have included Jim Jarmusch (Mystery Train, The Dead Don’t Die), Boots Riley (Sorry to Bother You), Chris Elliot, Ira Sachs, Lakeith Stanfield, Raven Jackson (All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt), Amy Seimetz (Sun Don’t Shine, The Girlfriend Experience series), Rainn Wilson, Craig Brewer (Hustle & Flow, Footloose), Whit Stillman (Love & Friendship), Abel Ferarra (Ms. 45), Richard Brody (The New Yorker), Chris Parnell (Saturday Night Live, 30 Rock), former New York Times film critic Elvis Mitchell (KCRW’s The Treatment), Peter Gilbert (Hoop Dreams), Scott Mosier (Clerks, Chasing Amy), Larry Karaszewski (Ed Wood, The People vs Larry Flynt), Matt Lopez (Race to Witch Mountain, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice), John Sayles (Matewan), Albert Maysles (Grey Gardens, Gimme Shelter), and many others.
Thrice named “one of the coolest film festivals around” by MovieMaker magazine, the Indie Memphis Film Festival has been supported by The National Endowment for the Arts, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Cinereach, and other prestigious funding bodies.
