“Sundance is thrilling, South by Southwest is rockin, Cannes is glamorous… but I still say that Macon Film Festival is one of the best experiences a filmmaker can have.” – Michael Dunaway, Paste Magazine
The 7th Annual Macon film festival is now a wrap. By all accounts it was the most successful one to date in terms of content and numbers of attendees. One hundred and five filmmakers came to Macon for the film festival. The 105 filmmakers represented 42 of the 125 films that made it into this year’s festival. Filmmaker Lillane de Kermadec from Paris, France came the furthest.
Fifty volunteers worked 332 volunteer hours during the 4 day festival. Admissions increased 36% from 2011. Over 500 people attended the festival each day, totaling over 2,000 people for the entire festival.
This year we had more students attending the festival than in previous years. A number of students from Macon State College, Mercer University and Presbyterian Day School took advantage of free student Day Passes to attend the festival each day.
The Macon Film Festival, funded in part by a generous grant from The John S and James L Knight Foundation, was created to celebrate the art of the moving image and to give up-and-coming filmmakers an opportunity to showcase their work in Central Georgia. 125 films from 15 countries were selected to screen this year. The diverse subject matter of the films, ranging from innocent to provocative to very adult in nature, offers something for everyone and provides local movie buffs the opportunity to see films that will likely never be shown at Macon movie theaters. They also have opportunities to meet filmmakers from all parts of the world.
The 2012 Macon Film Festival winners were:
Animation: THE JOCK STRAP RAIDERS (USA, director Mark Nelson) – Winner
Experimental: GHOST OF OLD HIGHWAYS (USA, director Dan Bush) – Winner
Student: MISSILE CRISIS (USA, director Jaye Davidson) – Winner
Student: KWIK FIX (Australia, director Kelly Hucker) – Runner Up
Documentary: MARGARET & EVERGON (Canada, director Donald Winkler) – Winner
Documentary: GROW! (USA, director Anthony Masterson) – Runner up
Narrative Short: THE KOOK (USA, director Nat Livingston & Gregory Mitnick) – Winner
Narrative Short: SUBURBIA (Australia, director Antonio Orena-Barlin) – Runner up
Narrative Feature: A WAKE (Canada, director Penelope Buitenhuis) – Winner
Narrative Feature: WHO PAYS THE HITMAN (Austalia, director Rod Millner) – Runner up
*Melvyn Douglas Best in Show: A WAKE (Canada, director Penelope Buitenhuis) – Winner
Our Best in Show award is named after two-time Oscar winning actor Melvyn Douglas who was born in Macon, Georgia in the year 1901.
A few thousand people were out and about in downtown to watch films, dine out at restaurants, and experience the indigenous arts and culture of our city. Each day independent films were screened in back-to-back blocks from 9am until 11pm. Each evening there was a Special Screening followed by Q&A session with the special guests.
The 2012 Macon Film Festival special guests included actor Beth Grant (The Artist, Donnie Darko, No Country for Old Men), Jay Carson (Macon native & political strategist) who was the inspiration for the Ryan Gosling character in “The Ides of March,” Grammy Award winning music video executive producer Joseph Uliano and Macon native Carrie Preston (True Blood) appeared via Skype for a Q&A following the screening of her film. Beth Grant was an amazing get as her film THE ARTIST won the Academy Award for Best Picture the following weekend in Los Angeles. 
Daily workshops were free and open to the public and drew record numbers of attendees. The workshops were tailored to actors, writers, producers and directors. Workshops were conducted by Joseph Uliano, Los Angeles. Executive Producer, Wondros Music + Vision; Sarah Treem, Los Angeles. Writer/Producer for two HBO series IN TREATMENT and HOW TO MAKE IT IN AMERICA; Beth Grant, Los Angeles. Actress. (THE ARTIST, DONNIE DARKO, SPEED, RAIN MAN, NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN) and Craig Dominey, Atlanta. Film Location Specialist, Georgia Film Office.
Screening venues included the Cox Capitol Theatre, Douglass Theatre and The 567 Center for Renewal. Workshops were held at The 567 Café. For the second year The Opening Act located at 567 Cherry Street was donated by Newtown Macon for our festival headquarters. After parties were held each night at The Library Ballroom, Commercial Furnishings, The SoChi Gallery and the Cox Capitol Theatre. All after party venues were donated.
Media partners for this year were NewsCentral, Macon Telegraph, The 11th Hour, COX & Macon Magazine. We promoted the festival in Athens Food & Culture Magazine, Creative Loafing and CreativeLoafing.com (Atlanta), SouthMagazine.com (Savannah), Fenuxe.com (Atlanta), ArtsCriticAtl.com (Atlanta), FilmmakerMagazine.com (National) & Facebook Ads.
The Macon Film Festival board will meet in March to recap the 2012 festival and begin planning the 2013 festival. Please follow us on Facebook and Twitter. You may also check us out online at maconfilmfestival.com