More than 170 films screened at the 26th Indie Memphis Film Festival, which ran from October 24 to 29, 2023. Audiences flocked to the opening night film, Raven Jackson’s mesmerizing All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt; Jeanie Finlay’s documentary Your Fat Friend; a sneak preview of Jeffrey Wright in the blistering satire American Fiction; and even Celine and Julie Go Boating, a 50-year-old, three-hour experimental film from French director Jacques Rivette. The biggest ovation this reporter witnessed was for Joann Self Selvidge and Sarah Fleming’s searing documentary Juvenile: 5 Stories, which brought the Friday night audience at Playhouse on the Square to their feet.
Memphis-based filmmakers provided many of the festival’s highlights. In the shorts categories, A.D. Smith’s masterful sci-fi short “r.e.g.g.i.N,” Mark Goshorn Jones’ “Squirrel Meets Boris,” Noah Glenn’s “Bike Lane Ends,” Martina Boothe’s “Dare,” and Janay Kelley’s “Kiss Me Softly” stood out in an extremely competitive field. Among the eight Hometowner feature films, Jessica Chaney’s I Am packed Playhouse with its empowering message for Black women overcoming anxiety. Sissy Denkova flew directly to the festival from Bulgaria, where she was promoting the theatrical release of her heartfelt comedy Scent of Linden, to present it to the Memphis immigrant community which inspired it.
At least one filmmaker made Indie Memphis history at Saturday night’s awards ceremony. Zaire Love is the first director to ever win both Best Hometowner Narrative Short (for “Etto”) and Best Hometowner Documentary Short (for “Slice”) in the same year. (In 2017, Matteo Servente won Best Documentary Short and a special MLK50 social justice award for a narrative short. Love is the first director to win Best in both categories.)
The festival jury awarded Best Narrative Feature to Mountains, director Monica Sorelle’s story of Haitian workers facing gentrification. Best Documentary Feature went to Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project, directors Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson’s portrait of the Tennessee-born poet. Alicia Ester’s documentary The Spirit of Memphis, which was one of two festival films with scores by IMAKEMADBEATS, won Best Hometowner Feature. The Best Departures Feature, awarded to experimental and cross-genre works, went to Sebastián Pinzón Silva and Canela Reyes’ La Bonga. The Sounds Feature award for best music-related film went to Clyde Petersen for Even Hell Has Its Heroes, a documentary about Seattle doom metal pioneers Earth.
In the National Shorts category, “Benediction” by Zandashé Brown won for Narrative, “This Is Not A Sports Film” by Lily Ahree Siegel won for Documentary, “Amma Ki Katha” by Nehal Vyas won in Departures, and “Be Thyself” by Daniel Rosendale won the After Dark category, which includes horror and sci-fi. In the Music Video categories, director Jasia Ka took home the National award for “Slut” by Pollyanna, and Lawrence Shaw won the Hometowner category for “If You Feel Alone at Parties” by Blvck Hippie, led by the director’s brother Josh Shaw. The Duncan Williams Screenwriting Award went to The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed by Joanna Arnow. The Ron Tibbett Soul of Southern Film Award, a special jury prize that dates back to Indie Memphis’ origins, went to Mississippi River Styx by Andy McMillan and Tim Grant, which also received an honorable mention from the Documentary jury. The Craig Brewer Emerging Filmmaker Award went to Donna and Ally, which was jubilantly accepted by director Connor Mahoney and the cast. Best Poster Design went to An Evening Song (For Three Voices).
Two short films you will be seeing at future Indie Memphis Film Festivals are “55 South” by Best Hometowner Feature winner Alicia Ester and “Friend Shaped” by Lo Norman, both of which were awarded $15,000 IndieGrants.
The Vision Award went to Molly Wexler, the local producer and Indie Memphis board member who stepped in to run the festival while they searched for new leadership in 2021. The Indie Award, given to Memphis film crew members who have proven themselves invaluable over many productions, went to Laura Jean Hocking, who may have also set another Indie Memphis record by editing three feature films, two music videos (one of which she also directed), and a short film that appeared in this year’s festival.
The Audience Awards, as determined by ballots passed out during festival screenings, were announced on November 1. Zaire Love added to her hardware haul by winning the Audience Award for Best Documentary Short with “Slice”, while A.D. Smith took home Best Narrative Short with “R.e.g.g.i.n.” The Audience Award for Best Hometowner Feature went to The First Class by Lee Hirsch; the documentary about Crosstown High screened before a sold-out audience at Crosstown Theatre. The audience chose Josh Cannon’s pastoral music video for Bailey Bigger’s “Arkansas Is Nice” as their favorite. For Poster Design, the audience voted for Juvenile: 5 Stories.
In the national competition (which should really be renamed the international competition), the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature went to Lisa Steen’s Late Bloomers. For documentary feature, Indie Memphis ticket buyers chose Black Barbie. You can read my interview with director Lagueria Davis here. The Sounds feature Audience Award went to Augusta Palmer’s The Blues Society. You can read Alex Greene’s interview with the director about this important Memphis story at this link. The Departures feature choice was The Taste of Mango by Chloe Abrahams.
In the National Shorts categories, the top vote-getters were “Hickey” by Giovanna Molina for narrative and “Please Ask For It” by Allison Waid for documentary. The Departures winner was “Prep” by Raymond Knudsen, and the music video prize went to directors Seretse Njemanze and Jehnovah Carlisle for “So Misunderstood” by Jaklyn.