2025 FILM FEST KNOX Complete Lineup Announced

October 1, 2025

Visit Knoxville announces today the full festival lineup for 2025 FILM FEST KNOX, taking place at the Downtown Regal Riviera November 6–9, 2025. In addition to the previously announced five feature films for the American Regional Cinema Competition (Bird in Hand, Charliebird, Mouse, Other Houses, and Tropical Park) and the previously announced films for the Made in Tennessee Competition (A Long Hard Streak, The Easy Kind, and 17 shorts), FILM FEST KNOX programming includes an exciting array of acclaimed festival highlights and revivals, the Elev8or Pitch, panels, networking opportunities, and more. 

“2025 promises to be the most exciting year yet for FILM FEST KNOX,” said Curt Willis, Sr. Director of the Visit Knoxville Film Office. “The festival continues to grow and build on its reputation as one of the premier film festivals in the Southeast, as evidenced by recently being named as one of MovieMaker Magazine’s ‘50 Festivals Worth the Entry Fee.’”

“We are so excited for the lineup for this year’s FILM FEST KNOX,” said Kim Bumpas, President of Visit Knoxville. “The invited guests who represent these films are standouts in the industry, and we are honored to welcome them to Knoxville for what promises to be an incredible weekend for all attendees.”

The American Regional Cinema competition will be represented by a number of invited guests: Melody Roscher and Craig Shilowich (director and producer of Bird in Hand), Libby Ewing and Samantha Smart (director and writer/actor of Charliebird), Kenny Riches and Jesse Brown (director and producer of Mouse), S. Cagney Gentry, Thomas Southerland, and Katerina Stoykova (directors and actor of Other Houses), and Hansel Porras Garcia and Hannah Imbert Morell (director and producer of Tropical Park), along with jurors Bedatri Choudhury (festival programmer and arts and entertainment editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer), Ryan Krivoshey (producer and founder of Grasshopper Films), and James M. Johnston (producer, writer, and director). 

The Made in Tennessee competition will be represented by nearly two dozen filmmakers and actors, along with jurors Vera Brunner-Sung (director), Ashton Campbell (filmmaker and director of the Oak Cliff Film Festival), and Kelsey Taylor (director). Toby Halbrooks (producer, writer, and director) will attend FILM FEST KNOX as part of the celebration of Sailor Bear, recipients of the first annual James Agee Prize. 

The Elev8or Pitch competition kicks off the festival on Thursday, November 6. The top eight teams will have their films screened, followed by their one-minute pitch in front of a live audience and panel of judges. The other Elev8or Pitch films will be screened on Saturday. The 2025 Elev8or jury is Neil Creque Williams (producer, director), Kelly Williams (producer), and Kristin Shrader (publicist).

FILM FEST KNOX’s focus on personal, ambitious regional filmmaking has shaped the Currents and Revival programs as well. This year, Sailor Bear will receive a small retrospective, celebrating their work in regional cinema, beginning with the opening night film, The Old Man & the Gun (2018), directed by David Lowery and featuring Robert Redford’s final starring role. We will also screen A Ghost Story (Lowery, 2017) and present “Songs and Stories,” a program of rarely-screened short films by Halbrooks, Johnston, and Lowery. Revival also includes the underseen Appalachian masterpiece, Spring Night Summer Night(Joseph L. Anderson, 1967), and a program of experimental shorts made by Peter Bundy throughout the Southeast and Midwest in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Bundy’s films have been made available to FILM FEST KNOX for this very rare screening by the Ruben/Bentson Moving Image Collection at the Walker Art Center. 

The Currents program again features a number of award-winning discoveries from the year’s top festivals, including Albert Serra’s Afternoons of Solitude (New York), Ugo Bienvenu’s Arco(Cannes), Oliver Laxe’s Sirât (Cannes), Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne’s Young Mothers(Cannes), Charlie Shackleton’s Zodiac Killer Project (Sundance), and “Flicker & Wow,” a program of new experimental short films.

Additionally, FILM FEST KNOX will offer educational opportunities designed for filmmakers and film enthusiasts, including “A Conversation with Sailor Bear,” featuring guests James M. Johnston and Toby Halbrooks; and “Film Distribution Case Studies,” with guests Kelsey Taylor and Vera Brunner-Sung.

FILM FEST KNOX will wrap on Sunday with an awards ceremony, recognizing the winners of various categories, including the American Regional Cinema Competition, where the winner of Best Film receives an Oscar-qualifying theatrical run courtesy of Regal. Awards in that category also include Best Director and Jury Prize. Awards in the Made in Tennessee category include Best Film and Jury Prize. Awards will also be given for Best Film in the Elev8or Pitch category, as well as various other prizes. FILM FEST KNOX is proud to award a total of $18,000 in cash prizes to our talented award winners. 

“2025 is shaping up to be the strongest year for movies since 2020, and I think that’s reflected in the diversity and quality of this lineup,” said Artistic Director Darren Hughes. “Over the course of three days, we’re going to screen nearly 75 films in every variety of style and voice—from two minutes to two hours, from Morocco to San Francisco. These are the kinds of movies that stick with you long after you leave the theater.”

In advance of the festival, the public is invited to attend “How to Fest” on October 21 at 6PM at The Square Room. This event is an opportunity to learn more about what a film festival is and how to experience it. Darren Hughes will provide an overview of this year’s festival, serving as a guide to the 2025 lineup. Attendees will be shown how to use the Agile ticketing app to select film blocks and reserve their spots in the theatre. Additionally, the top 8 winners of the Elev8or Pitch Competition will be announced. 

Full Festival and VIP passes are on sale now at FILMFESTKNOX.com.

Festival passholders will be able to select their blocks on October 13.

Single/4/8 block tickets will go on sale October 20 on FILMFESTKNOX.com.

Lineup Details

Currents

Afternoons of Solitude (Dir. Albert Serra)
125 minutes, 2024
Explores the spiritual pain of bullfighting, the tormented torero in a ring, one of the most excessive and graphic examples of the origin of Southern European civilization.

Arco (Dir. Ugo Bienvenu)
82 minutes, 2025
What if rainbows were actually time travelers flying across the sky? On his first flight through time, Arco (10) crash lands from the year 3000 into our near future. His fall is witnessed by a little girl, Iris, who helps him return home.

Sirât (Dir. Oliver Laxe)
115 minutes, 2025
A father, accompanied by his son, goes looking for his missing daughter in North Africa.

Young Mothers (Dir. Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne)
105 minutes, 2025
Five young mothers living in a shelter strive for a better future for themselves and kids amidst challenging upbringings.

Zodiac Killer Project (Dir. Charlie Shackleton)
91 minutes, 2025
Against the backdrop of deserted spaces, a filmmaker explores his abandoned Zodiac Killer documentary, delving into the true crime genre’s inner workings at a saturation point.

Flicker & Wow Experimental Shorts

• FELT (Dir. Blake Williams)
• Morning Circle (Dir. Basma al-Sharif) 
• Niches (Dir. Janelle VanderKelen)
• Palm Sunday (Dir. Nathan Swann)
• Sudden Tourniquet (Dir. Janie Geiser)
• Tulsa (Dir. Scott Stark)

Revival

A Ghost Story (Dir. David Lowery)
92 minutes, 2017
In this singular exploration of legacy, love, loss, and the enormity of existence, a recently deceased, white-sheeted ghost returns to his suburban home to try to reconnect with his bereft wife.

Spring Night Summer Night (Dir. Joseph L. Anderson)
82 minutes, 1967
Jessica, the eldest daughter of a coal miner-turned-farmer, has a fling with her half-brother Carl, which complicates things more when she becomes pregnant.

The Old Man & the Gun (Dir. David Lowery)
93 minutes, 2018
Based on the true story of Forrest Tucker and his audacious escape from San Quentin at the age of 70 to an unprecedented string of heists that confounded authorities and enchanted the public.

Edited Documents: Films by Peter Bundy

• Alabama Departure (1978)
• Laurel Fork (1978)
• Pendulum (1978)
• Roan Mountain Eulogy (1979)
• State Highway (1978)
• Summer Sketch (1979)
• To and from Childhood … A Portrait (1982)
• Underbridge (1978) 
• Wyoming Passage (1982)

Songs and Stories: Short Films by Sailor Bear

• Arise, Therefore (Dir. David Lowery, 2020)
• Blackness of the Night (Dir. Toby Halbrooks, 2020)
• Dig (Dir. Toby Halbrooks, 2014)
• Melville (Dir. James M. Johnston, 2015)
• Oak Thorn & The Old Rose of Love (Dir. David Lowery, 2022)
• Pioneer (Dir. David Lowery, 2011)
• Red Tailed Hawk (Dir. James M. Johnston, 2020)