Caleb Suggs – Memphis Flyer

Six Memphis filmmakers will have their work screened at the 23rd annual Porretta Film Festival just outside of Bologna, Italy, in December. Thanks to a grant from the Dr. O’Farrell Shoemaker Foundation, the Memphis & Shelby County Film and Television Commission partnered with festival director Luca Elmi to select six short films by Memphis directors to screen at the Festival del Cinema di Porretta Terme.

The short films were selected from more than 25 entries by the film faculty of LeMoyne-Owen College and the University of Memphis. They are “What Were You Meant For?” by Kevin Brooks, “The Devil Will Run” by Noah Glenn, “What Life Is” by Brandon Russell, “Loveshake” by Caleb Suggs, “Soul Man” by Kyle Taubken, and Louise Page’s “Green Ribbon” music video by Laura Jean Hocking. “Soul Man” and “The Devil Will Run” both won Best Hometowner Short Film awards at the Indie Memphis Film Festival.

Film Commission board chair Gail Jones Carson and vice-chair Alicia George will travel to Italy to represent Memphis. Porretta Terme is situated in Italy’s picturesque Tuscan region and has been famous since antiquity for its hot springs. The town also hosts a long-running, soul music festival, which has hosted many Memphis music luminaries over the years. The film festival will take place December 7 through 15, 2024.

The 25th annual Indie Memphis Film Festival wrapped on Monday night with Shaft. The juries’ decisions were announced at a raucous awards ceremony on Saturday night, but it’s taken until now to tabulate the results for the Audience Awards, which are determined by votes from ticket buyers, who are asked to assign each film a letter grade of A through F.

Audience and jury opinions lined up this year for three films which swept both awards. Our Father, The Devil by director Ellie Fombi won both of the Narrative Feature awards, and currently holds the coveted 100 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Here’s a sample:

Kumina Queen by director Nyasha Laing similarly repeated its jury win in the Sounds category.

In the Hometowner categories, director Lauren Ready repeated in Documentary Shorts with “What We Will Never Know.” This is Ready’s fourth Indie Memphis trophy for documentaries, making her one of the most decorated filmmakers in the festival’s 25-year history.

The National Documentary Feature Audience Award went to Butterfly In The Sky, the story of the beloved PBS show Reading Rainbow by directors Brett Whitcomb and Bradford Thomason.

From the exceptionally crowded nine-film field of Hometowner features, audiences voted for Show Business is My Life — But I Can’t Prove It, director G.B. Shannon’s biography of legendary comedian Gary Mule Deer. The crowd-pleasing film about the crowd-pleasing funny man features appearances from comedy luminaries such as David Letterman, Conan O’Brien, and Steve Martin, and dramatic recreations of some of Gary Mule Deer’s jokes and stories starring a who’s who of Memphis-based actors.

The audience’s favorite Hometowner Music Video of 2022 was “Imagine That” by Tailbah Safiyah, directed by Zaire Love. Check it out:

The Departures Audience Award, which includes experimental and generally “out there” works honored Maria Judice’s Elephant.

“Stress Dreams” by Greensky Bluegrass, directed by Grant Knolton, won the National Music Video Audience Award.

In the Short film categories, “F*** ‘Em R!ght B@cK” by Harris Doran won the National Narrative category, and “Call Me Anytime, I’m Not Leaving The House” by Sanjna Selva won the National Documentary category. Caleb Suggs’ “Homeboys Haunted 2” took home audience gold in the Hometowner Narrative Shorts. Audiences also chose Reed Harkness’ Sam Now, which won the jury award for Best Documentary, in the poster category.