Check out the great films here soon, showing at the 2022 Smoky Mountain Film Festival!

A man prepares a meal for his pet and himself.

When professor of poetry, Phil Jenkins, meets and falls in love with local resident, Janice Roberson while hiking the Great Smoky Mountains, neither can envisage the turn of events which will ultimately confirm the fleeting nature of life. Based on true events, Unheard Melodies, is a story of undying love and commitment, albeit brief and bittersweet.

 

Papaw Land is a coming-of-age drama set in rural Arkansas. 17-year-old Matthew is slipping into a cycle of alcohol and drugs that looks all too familiar to his single mother, Christy. In a desperate bid to break the cycle, she sends him away for a summer of sobriety and honest work at his grandfather’s place in the Ozarks. Against the hum of cicadas, Matthew comes to know the generational abuse that has happened there— secrets that change how he looks at those closest to him, and at himself. Justin Blake Crum’s debut feature film is a patient and affecting case-study in how toxic masculinity and inherited trauma shape this underrepresented slice of America.

 

A wistful young man strolls the Nashville streets when an encounter with a flower vendor ultimately reveals his dark longing.

A couple from Chicago moves to a remote farmhouse in Kentucky in the spring of 2020 to wait out the coronavirus "for just a few weeks." They end up staying over a year and must learn to co-exist with their new neighbors.

A mother desperately yearns to escape an oppressive dystopian society where humans have merged with machines and life is automated by artificial intelligence, but her family would rather live in technological comfort than escape with her into the unforgiving wilderness.

 

Taking care of an egg for health class? Easy. Taking care of an actual child? Much harder. Harper Ales is a single mother in a surreal world where babies hatch from eggs, but, even in this world, the struggles of motherhood are just as difficult.

An abusive dad gets his just desserts on his birthday.

From Laurel Bloomery, Tennessee, Gilliam Banmon Grayson (1887-1930) was a blind fiddler from one of the most isolated regions on the East Coast. Largely unknown, he may be one of the most influential musicians in the history of bluegrass and country music. His music has been recorded and performed by world-famous musicians including Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, Doc Watson, Dr. Ralph Stanly, and the Kingston Trio, among many others. Yet, very few people have an inkling of who G.B. Grayson was and what he accomplished in only two years of professional recording.

In this film, we explore G.B. Grayson's life and tragic death and how his musical legacy lives on today. Grayson's most famous songs include: Tom Dooley, Train 45, Handsome Molly, Short Life of Trouble, Going down the Lee Highway, Omie Wise, Rose Conley, Banks of the Ohio, and Little Maggie.

This film includes interviews with: Ketch Secor (Old Crow Medicine Show), Emmy nominated folksinger/songwriter John McCutcheon, Ralph Stanley II, Kody Norris (The Kody Norris Show), Josh Beckworth (Author of Always Been a Rambler), several of G.B. Grayson's Grandchildren, and many more.

 

A high-end escort is conflicted about telling her favorite client that she's leaving the business. 

Our Town is a short Documentary film about a public art project that took place in Nashville, Tennessee. An artist collective seeks to make a portrait of Nashville using the citizens of the city as artists themselves.

A retired firefighter enters a demolition derby with a fire-breathing dragon to commemorate his late brother. This observational documentary takes you through the fire, mud, and absurdity of his emotional day at the track.

 

This film tells a story of a teen violinist named Adonis who grows up with his neighbor Gemma, but does not know Gemma secretly loves him. When Gemma tries to tell Adonis about her true feelings for him, Adonis ignores Gemma because he is too young to understand love. Then Gemma leaves Adonis to go to a college in London. Adonis realizes his deep emotions for Gemma after he thinks Gemma was trapped in an avalanche in the Alps. However, Gemma comes back to Adonis instead of going to the Alps...

Boonville, California – 1906

Thirteen year-old Melinda, born out of wedlock and scorned by many, desperately wants to know what happened to her real father, but no one in town will tell her.

Melinda’s mean stepfather, Maddox, is the richest man in the valley, and he lords his power over everyone, including her. Melinda’s mother is no help, having given up her faith and reason to superstition when Melinda’s real father went missing.

Melinda is sent to take care of her ailing Grandma Mary where she learns a long-forgotten language of the valley called "Boontling" and gets some clues about her past. When Grandma Mary suddenly passes away, Melinda returns home to the evils of Maddox.

Now determined to do all within her power to find her father, Melinda’s bravery compels some of the townspeople to reveal the dark secrets that they have kept to themselves for years.

Along with Boonville’s residents, Melinda learns that when you look for the truth, that’s where you’ll find grace.

Arvie Candler was a 12 year old witness to one of the most publicized World events in 1947. He never spoke to a single person in 60 years about what he knew. Can Arvie find peace before his death? Or will what he knows just become GRAVE TALK?

Bored IRL, Caitlin longs to be with her GOAT love fantasy aboard his motorized sailing yacht, the Newport. She’s his BAE, but can true love bridge the chasm that separates their two worlds?

A frantic author is on a deadline to turn in his latest novel, but writers block has forced him into a critical position bind. However a swift turn of events soon breaks his attention from his blank page trance, and makes a wild transition from what was once unclear to a decisive innovation.

A mother and daughter go hiking for the first time.