The festival kicked off last Friday at The Loud with music videos and then the main event took place at the Foundry Theater on Saturday 8-19-23. After being dormant for a decade, the 2023 Appalachian Film Festival reboot was a grand community success with many films, volunteers, vendors, sponsors, and attendees. Screenings and awards took place inside the historic Jean Carlo Stephenson auditorium on the second floor of City Hall. This festival celebrates filmmakers and projects from the contiguous counties that comprise Appalachia.
The day was filled with films, bringing Appalachian artists and voices to the screen through student, short and feature films. KING COAL, by director Elaine McMillion Sheldon, rounded out the screenings of the day and drawing in a large feature crowd to the festival.
Nathan Thomas hosted the festival, with Michael Cerveris presenting King Coal, a Q&A with Elaine McMillion Sheldon, and announcing the award winners.
The Appalachian Film Festival winners received custom glass apples “APPY’S” from Blenko Glass, continuing the tradition from past years.
The Winners:
Best In Fest: BELLA by Stefan Stojanovic
Best Feature Film:
1st Place: IMAGINING THE INDIAN, THE FIGHT AGAINST NATIVE AMERICAN MASCOTTING TRAILER by Aviva Kemper, Ben West.
2nd Place: MY BEST FRIEND’S HEAD EXPLODED by Scott Bryan
3rd Place: IMPRESSIONS by William Sellari
Best Short Film:
1st Place: DON’T PUT HER DOWN by Julia Golonka
2nd Place: MANUFACTURED LUCK by Kevin Keck
3rd Place: FAR AND SURE, THE STORY OF AMERICA’S FIRST GOLF COURSE by Brett Ward
Best Student Film:
1st Place: BELLA by Stefan Stojanovic
2nd Place: LITTLE BROTHER by Marco Toro, Drew Reuschlein
3rd Place: FATHER by Jobe Weitzel
Vendors like FlareKitti and info booths like Funktafest and the WVIFF (West Virginia International Film Festival) were set up on the first floor of City Hall for visitors to browse.
Popcorn concessions and festival t-shirt sales were operated by Foundry Theater volunteers on the mezzanine.
The film festivities continued on Sunday 8-20-23 with a Screenwriting Workshop featuring Mickey Fisher at Black Sheep Burritos & Brews. Hosted over Zoom (and brunch) participants gained insight and held a Q&A, gaining insight into the current strike, screenwriting, and filmmaking. Fisher even had his Appy award from the film KING OF IRON TOWN in 2004.
The Appalachian Film Festival was sponsored by the West Virginia Film Office, The Loud, Huntington Realty Corporation, Mountain Mindful, Black Sheep Burritos & Bres, and Blenko Glass.
See what is upcoming at The Foundry Theater: https://www.foundrytheater.org/
Miss seeing King Coal? Soon the WVIFF Underground Cinema in Charleston WV will have showings:
https://www.wviff.org/floraleeharkcohen/
Checkout our previous posts leading up to the 2023 return of the Appalachian Film Festival: https://huntingtonnewsnetwork.com/?p=1711
Be sure to check out our coverage of the Music Video portion of the festival here: https://huntingtonnewsnetwork.com/?p=1846
Saturday @ City Hall Photo Gallery:
