The 12th annual Tallahassee Film Festival happens April 15-19 at multiple venues around Tallahassee, including CMX Cinemas Fallschase 14, All Saints Cinema, Cap City Video Lounge, 621 Gallery and FSU’s Fine Arts Building. With over 80 films to choose from during the 5-day festival, there’s something for every movie lover! We’re excited to announce our second wave of films, including our Opening Night film presentation!
Pahokee, an observational documentary that follows a group of students through their senior year at a South Florida high school, is the Opening Night film at the 2020 Tallahassee Film Festival. The film, made by Ivete Lucas and Patrick Bresnan with the participation of its subjects, explores the dreams and struggles of mostly African-American teens coming of age in the small, economically depressed town of Pahokee, Fla., a tightly knit community on the edge of the Everglades. The festival returns for the April 17 screening and afterparty to CMX Cinemas Fallschase 14. We anticipate some special guests from the film, which features several students now attending college in Tallahassee, including B.J. Crawford, offensive lineman for the Florida A&M University Rattlers, and brothers Adarius and Akeem Dent, respectively a wide receiver and a defensive back for the Florida State University Seminoles.
The festival, which runs April 15-19, also announces three new films added to its spotlight series:
Crestone
A film by Marnie Ellen Hertzler
Crestone, an expedition to the frontiers of fact and fiction that follows the misadventures of a tribe of SoundCloud rappers eking out a marginal existence in the desolate hills of western Colorado amid a heavy post-apocalyptic vibe, while staying high and recording odes to their existence with the aid of Auto-Tune. The feature debut by Baltimore’s Marnie Ellen Hertzler arrives in Tallahassee hot off screenings at the True/False festival and SXSW.
The Killing of Two Lovers
A film by Robert Machoian
The Killing of Two Lovers is the first feature to be directed solely by Robert Machoian, a TFF alum, whose decade-long career boasts a string of prize-winning short films as well as full-length collaborations with creative partner Rodrigo Ojeda-Beck (When She Runs and God Bless the Child). This intense and raw-nerved study of a Midwestern small-town couple navigating a volatile marital separation makes Marriage Story look like a cheerful gilded fantasy. The film stars and was also executive produced by Clayne Crawford (Lethal Weapon TV series). As a bonus, the soundtrack, by sound designer Peter Albrechtsen “weaves noises like a turning-over truck engine and harsh mechanical percussion into the equivalent of Bernard Herrmann’s Taxi Driver score — an audio Rorschach of the protagonist’s helplessly escalating anxiety” (Variety). A selection of this year’s Sundance Film Festival and the Museum of Modern Art/New York Film Festival’s New Directors/New Films.
Freeland
A film by Marco Furloni & Kate McLean
Freeland, written and directed by Marco Furloni and Kate McLean, is a deep dive into the anti-authoritarian subculture of off-the-grid marijuana farming in northern California’s legendary Humboldt County. Krisha Fairchild (Krisha) stars as Devi, a longtime black market grower whose life and livelihood are threatened as cannabis becomes legal. The stellar cast includes John Craven, Frank Mosley and Lily Gladstone. A SXSW selection this year.
These titles join previously announced spotlight films that include Once Upon a River, Thumbs Up for Mother Universe: Stories from the Life of Lonnie Holley, Narrowsburg, and Red, White and Wasted. A final wave of films, selected from more than 300 submissions, will be announced soon, as well as a complete array of screening venues and parties.
Advance VIP and all-access passes are on sale now!