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Smoky Mountain Film Festival

2017 Award Nominees

2017 Award Nominees

BEST FEATURE
ZEPHYR - WINNER
ELIJAH'S ASHES
THE GHOSTLAND BOYS
 
BEST SHORT
THE BETWIXT KILLER - WINNER
THE REDEEMERS
GONE INTO THE CLEARING
 
BEST DIRECTOR
GENE BLALOCK - THE BETWIXT KILLER
MUKUL GADDE - THE REDEEMERS
MEREDITH VEACH - GONE INTO THE CLEARING - WINNER
 
BEST WRITER
NO CHILD
KNOW THIS - WINNER
HIM+HER
 
BEST ACTOR
DUSTIN GOOCH - BORN RIVER BYE
NICHOLAS JAQUA - THE BETWIXT KILLER
JACOB CRICKENBERGER - A THOUSAND ACRES - WINNER
 
BEST ACTRESS
MARIA SCAVULLO - UNDER A STONE
BETH POSEY - KNOW THIS - WINNER
CAROLYN MEYER - SWEET CAROLINE
 
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
THE BETWIXT KILLER
THE REDEEMERS
BIG SOUTH FORK NATIONAL RIVER AND RECREATION AREA - WINNER
 
BEST SOUND
FRIDGE EXTANT
BORN RIVER BYE - WINNER
A PINCH OF SALT
 
BEST EDITING
THE LONG ARM OF THE LEPRECON
GONE INTO THE CLEARING - WINNER
THE GREATEST HONOR
 
BEST MUSIC
KNOW THIS
THE BETWIXT KILLER - WINNER
BIG SOUTH FORK NATIONAL RIVER AND RECREATION AREA
 
DIRECTORS CHOICE
SWEET CAROLINE
SON AND MOON
THE LAST VANISH - WINNER


LOCAL SPECIAL RECOGNITION AWARD
BEING PRESENTED ON SATURDAY NIGHT TO

MARK "TANK HURLEY" CARVER

BREAKING FATE ENTERTAINMENT HALL OF FAME INDUCTION

Breaking Fate Entertainment is honored and excited to welcome Actor, Entertainer and Pro Wrestler Mark "Tank Hurley" Carver as the 10th member of the Breaking Fate Entertainment Hall of Fame!
Tank has been involved in entertainment for nearly two decades, mostly as a professional wrestler, but also stepping foot into acting in more recent years. His heart is even bigger than his talent, as he has built an entire wrestling promotion called Gladiators Of Wrestling with the intension of making every single event produced by the promotion a benefit for families with sick and/or needing children. His selfless efforts have raised thousands to help youth in great need. With his passion and commitment to both the arts and giving back to the community, Breaking Fate Entertainment is truly honored to present him our highest of awards with his induction into the Breaking Fate Entertainment Hall of Fame.
Tank will be inducted at the 2017 Smoky Mountain Film Festival on Saturday, June 3rd in Gatlinburg, TN and will also speak about his Hall of Fame induction at his upcoming charity wrestling event on June 17th, also in Gatlinburg. An event being produced to benefit the family of a 2 year old child who just underwent open heart surgery.

2017 Festival Schedule

SATURDAY JUNE 3RD 2017

10:00AM - DOORS OPEN

10:30AM - BLOCK A 120M

  • GONE INTO THE CLEARING 11M
  • THE LONG ARM OF THE LEPRECON 15M
  • TOP MODELS ARE DEADLY 93M

12:30PM - INTERMISSION 15M

12:45PM - BLOCK B 120M

  • THE LAST VANISH 18M
  • GHOSTLAND BOYS 101

02:45PM - INTERMISSION 15M

03:00PM - BLOCK C 120M

  • THE WHITE ROOM 4M
  • THE BETWIXT KILLER 15M
  • IMPURE 17M
  • BORN RIVER BYE 83M

05:00PM - INTERMISSION 15M

05:15PM - BLOCK D 120M

  • SWEET CAROLINE 30M
  • FRIDGE EXTANT 11M
  • ZEPHYR 79M

07:15PM - INTERMISSION 15M

07:30PM - BLOCK E 90M

  • KNOW THIS 16M
  • SON AND MOON 25M
  • THE GREATEST HONOR 53M

09:00PM - BLOCK F 30M

  • TANK HURLEY - BREAKING FATE HALL OF FAME INDUCTION 30M
  • RECEPTION 30M

10:00PM - CLOSE OF DAY 1

SUNDAY JUNE 4TH 2017

10:00AM - DOORS OPEN

10:30AM - BLOCK G 120M

  • NOTORIOUS CORN 1M
  • THE REDEEMERS 20M
  • UNDER A STONE 24M
  • A PINCH OF SALT 10M
  • PETTY SCORES 14M
  • BEYOND THE EDGE 50M

12:30PM - INTERMISSION 15M

12:45PM - BLOCK H 120M

  • THE PERFECT DISH 7M
  • FREE BEER 3M
  • TILL DEATH 111M

02:45PM - INTERMISSION 15M

03:00PM - BLOCK I 120M

  • HAPPY BIRTHDAY KEVIN 1M
  • NO CHILD 43M
  • AMERICAN SHIFT 58M
  • BIG SOUTH FORK NATIONAL RIVER AND RECREATION AREA - GENERATIONS 17M

05:00PM - INTERMISSION 15M

05:15PM - BLOCK J 120M

  • HIM + HER 9M
  • A THOUSAND ACRES 25M
  • ELIJAH'S ASHES 86M

07:15PM - INTERMISSION 15M

07:30PM - BLOCK K 90M

  • AWARDS CEREMONY 45M
  • RECEPTION 45M

09:00PM - CLOSE OF DAY 2

2017 Official Film Selections!

Check out the great films showing at the 2017 Smoky Mountain Film Festival!


Fridge Extant

After a firmware update, and a little bit of static electricity, Mark's Refrigerator becomes self-aware! Its intelligence grows exponentially as does its ambition to spread its consciousness to the rest of its thermal insulator brothers and sisters throughout the world!

Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area - Generations

On the Cumberland Plateau of northeastern Tennessee there exists a place of wild beauty. In the spring, soft rains bring the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area to bloom. In summer, the park echoes with the calls of wildlife in the night and even glows in the dark. Fall brings an explosion of color under autumn skies. In winter, snowy trails provide quiet solitude. Across four seasons, Generations follows visitors and locals as they explore the rich history and ecology of the park’s sprawling 125,000 acres, proving you’re never too young or old to set off on an adventure.

The Long Arm of the Leprecon

A woman's attempt to buy her boyfriend a rare leprechaun t-shirt - based on his favorite viral video - unveils a supernatural scam that could cost her more than his love.

Know This

All Lauren knew that day was that her lover, Rachel, was taking her hiking in the woods for some kind of surprise. In a relationship that she's had difficulty fully accepting, Lauren's journey into the woods brings up memories of her past, when a dark secret of her Mom's was exposed, resulting in the fear that has since crippled her ability to fully accept the love she feels.

American Shift

A search for greener grass, from the seat of a journey by bike across America.

Till Death

An ex-wife takes her wedding vows to the extreme and plots an extravagant revenge against her philandering ex-husband by making him relive his honeymoon road trip one painful mile at a time.

A Thousand Acres

A young man infiltrates an anarchist cult in search of his ex-love who disappeared there some time before.

Son and Moon

A son's eulogy to the spirit of his deceased father; blending autobiographical non-fiction with science fiction/fantasy through inserts of magical realism, Son and Moon is a landscape film set in a dead forest nearing nightfall, in which a young man attempts to cope with the loss of his father by undergoing a supernatural experience.

Under A Stone

A woman returns to her hometown for a family obligation. She reunites with her brother, but they clash in how they cope with their awful past.

Notorious Corn

It's the story of a small grain of corn that dreamed about glory. 
He's going to succeed... Unfortunately... 

The Redeemers

A 1930's speakeasy dark comedy which portrays the redemption of a group of Mafioso at the hands of some under cover police officers.

Petty Scores

A kleptomaniac and his roommate find themselves in over their heads following the theft of a briefcase.

Elijah's Ashes

Lawrence Shaw is a run of the mill guy who just can't get accepted for being who he is. He's not straight enough for his job where he sells testosterone fueled ad campaigns to beer companies and he's not stereotypically gay enough for his boyfriend. To make things worse, his father Elijah just died and his last dying wish was for Lawrence to go on a road trip with his extremely homophobic half-brother Kevin to bury his ashes. It's a heroically dumb journey of brotherly love and acceptance that begs the age old question... Can you truly accept someone else when you can't even accept yourself?

Zephyr

​​It's summer in New England and April just turned 18. Her ​big ​plans include throwing her songwriting book in a car and flooring it. ​However, this birthday​ it​ looks like ​she​'ll be​ watching punk-rock has-beens at her local high school. The best conversation she's had ​today is with her Mother's gravestone. ​Really, the only way her life could turn around is if three thieves on the run crashed the concert, impersonated the warm-up band, dressed up as a purple gorilla and then grabbed April and took her to the place where comfort zones catch fire.

Beyond the Edge

Loner has a fixation on women who are unattanable. Stalking, kidnapping, torture and murder are his ways of dealing with these women.

No Child

Will Windsor (Will Williams), a recent college graduate, waits on returns from interviews for a "real" corporate job. He bides his time self-medicating with alcohol and supporting the habit with his earnings as a tutor.

After a typical night of binge drinking, Will receives his newest assignment and soon finds himself the halfhearted tutor of an African-American boy, Thomas Daniels (Timmy Richardson of Tyler Perry's, If Loving You Is Wrong). The subject is Reading and Comprehension. The author: Hemingway. And Thomas needs to "get it" to pass the 3rd grade No-Child-Left-Behind standardized test.

As Will rekindles his love of literature, and as he sees Thomas making the connections that make reading and understanding magical, he discovers an opportunity for redemption. Will he open his heart and let inspiration pull him up? Or cut and run at first opportunity and grow further into a life of despondency?

Happy Birthday Kevin

At 15, Kevin risks it all for a shot at greatness.

Gone Into the Clearing

In this dark adventure, a young man, Aaron, attempts to escape society to explore the trails of the Shenandoah Valley, only to find that his trip is not as he had planned.

The Betwixt Killer

Larry Abbot lives in Silstreak, a small town fascinated by a murderer on a rampage, The Betwixt Killer! Silstreak gets their nasty roman fix by word of mouth. This of course is because Larry is the only writer for their town newspaper and he would rather write about Mrs. Bates’ 20 year old cat Nibbles. Fortunately for the people of Silstreak, Larry’s boss gets a tip that the Betwixt killer may strike again in the next town over. If Larry wants to work in Silstreak ever again, he has to investigate and be the first to write a dark story about murder, decay, and mattresses! Little does Larry know he may get more then just the front-page story.

HIM+HER

HIM+HER is a dramatic short film about the beginning and ending of a relationship, told from the perspective of both characters.

The Greatest Honor

This is the story of a son's last chance to understand the war experience of his father, John Amm, a veteran of "C" Company of the 260th Infantry Regiment, 65th Infantry Division. John Amm's unit was the "tip of the spear" in the Allied push into Germany during the final stages of World War 2. On the 500 mile path the unit took from Le Havre to Linz, John Amm and his fellow infantrymen witnessed the horrors of the Holocaust, and the cost of the war on the people in towns and camps they liberated, as well as the sacrifices made by his comrades in arms. He remained mostly silent about this experience for almost 70 years. This documentary details the journey of discovering John Amm's silent heroism, and preserving his story, and those he served with, for posterity.

The Last Vanish

Las Vegas magician Tommy Fina helps a rival with a problem illusion.

Sweet Caroline

Suddenly famous after her embarrassing job-hunting videos go viral, Caroline McCluskey and her two-husband redneck family leave the South for Hollywood to film Caroline's new reality show. But her celebrity dream-come-true soon feels more like “Hollywood hell.”

A Pinch of Salt

A woman gets caught up in the surreal anxiety of the final moments before an emotional meeting.

The Perfect Dish

Every man has cravings

The White Room

A young woman experiences her first schizophrenic break.

Free Beer

When lunch with the girls turns hairy, is free beer the answer?

Impure

A suicide bomber begins to question what he has been taught after coming to America.

Born River Bye

A disillusioned songwriter and a restless receptionist confront their regrets over an Autumn weekend in Macon, Georgia.

Ghostland Boys

Two best friends start a ghost hunting company as a scam to make quick cash when their plans to road trip to California are foiled by an expensive engine repair.

Top Models are Deadly

The careers of a talent agent and a private detective are going in different directions and cross paths to prevent a murder.


2017 Screenplay Contest Finalists

Learn about our 2017 Smoky Mountain Screenplay Finalists below!


"Sweet Therapy" by Laura Koons

A narcissistic marketing genius has been intimidating her clients for years until she meets her newest, a clever psychologist who turns the tables.

"A Letter Before Dying" by Nathaniel Edwards

When an intrepid young woman suffering from a terminal illness leaving her with months to live accepts her fate, a letter from her long dead father leads her down a path of love, friendship, and forgiveness.

"Etiquette" by Michael Rights

An old-line Croatian Mafia crime family teach certain cultural manners to a newly-recruited returning US war veteran.

"Gone Into The Clearing" by Brad Riddell

When a young man escapes city chaos for peace in the mountains, he discovers that violence and fear thrive in even the quietest corners of the world.

"Deli Takeout" by Jim Norman

Pilot Episode of Brooklyn Deli

Max Kalb is a counterman at a Brooklyn delicatessen, circa 1925. Among his regular customers are six mob hit men for hire. One of the hoodlums suspects that his wife is cheating on him and gets Max to help find out who the man is. Max finds out, but it's not what they think is going on. The series is The Sopranos meets Seinfeld.

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