The Footcandle Film Festival is designed to bring unique, challenging and entertaining films to Western North Carolina every September. The festival is being held by the founders and members of the Footcandle Film Society, a 600-member group dedicated to screening and discussing films on a monthly basis.

Schedule of Events:

Saturday, September 21, 2024

7:00 PM: Stage & Screen: Outdoor Concert and Screening of AMERICAN GRAFFITI

The Footcandle Film Festival will host a weekend outdoor concert and film screening at at The HUM in Downtown Hickory on Saturday, September 21st. The ticketed event will feature a concert by local musicians performing classic hits from the 50s and 60s, followed by an outdoor screening of AMERICAN GRAFFITI along with food trucks and beverage sales.

PLEASE NOTE: You will need to bring your own outdoor chairs or blankets for seating at this event!

Location: The HUM, 227 2nd Ave SW, Hickory, NC 28602

Thursday, September 26, 2024

4:30 PM: Youth International Film Showcase

A collection of short films from around the world for school age children. Films are intended for children in the 4th-8th grades.

Location: Carolina Theater, 222 1st Ave NW, Hickory, NC 28601

7:00 PM: Footcandle Presents: A Song For Imogene

A sudden death and unexpected pregnancy force an impoverished woman to decide between freeing herself or remaining a relic of her drive-by Southern town.

Location: Hickory Community Theatre, 30 3rd St NW, Hickory, NC 28601

Friday, September 27, 2024

10:00 AM: Impossible Town

When her father passes unexpectedly, Dr. Ayne Amjad is thrust to the helm of a decades-long struggle to aid a southern West Virginia town beset by cancer-causing chemicals. After formulating an audacious plan to relocate the town’s residents, Ayne must decide how much she is willing to sacrifice – and who of her allies she can count on – to fulfill her late father’s mandate to “help others” at all costs.

1:00 PM: The Way We Speak

An up-and-coming writer refuses to leave the spotlight when his best friend and debate opponent suffers cardiac arrest, leading to an obsession over his new opponent and a growing rift with his ailing wife.

3:30 PM: The Playmaker

Playwright Paul Green, a native son of North Carolina, went to Broadway with a dream - that he could write a new ending for The Old South. This documentary looks at how Green’s controversial plays made waves in the areas of integration, capitol punishment and chain gang reform in North Carolina in the 1920s.

7:00 PM: Short Film Showcase and Reception

Then Comes the Body: When a video of kids dancing in the rain goes viral, it brings global attention to an unlikely ballet school outside Lagos, Nigeria. Now they're preparing for the world stage.

Ask Me How I Am: A story of self-harm from those living through it - this uniquely co-produced animated documentary aims to bust a few myths while offering positive advice to loved-ones.

???? ??? (Meet Me at the Creek): A story of interconnectedness and Cherokee values through the lifelong fight of a Cherokee Nation citizen and Waterkeeper Warrior, as she leads the effort to restore Tar Creek located in Miami, Oklahoma.

Our Males and Females: A father and mother are faced with the painful task of washing their deceased transgender daughter, but when no one agrees to wash her, how far is the father willing to go to make sure his "son" is washed?

Tomb of the Sea: In the wake of Fidel Castro's death in 2016, Rosa struggles to cope with her trauma as a Cuban immigrant and single parent in Miami.

Order for Pickup: Trapped in a cycle of work and self-isolation, burnt out Kelsey’s reality starts to blur until an irregular order for pickup disrupts everything.

Clocked Out: Stuck in a dead-end job, Charlie imagines whatever it takes to win the girl of his dreams.

Come and Save Me: Hugo is lured out of a lonely, self-imposed exile by nine magical fruits and the music of Danielson.

Nubbinwood: A beaver recounts his experiences as an actor following his dream to be in the movies.

10:00 PM: Night Gallery Short Films

The Murder On Cape Melancholy: After becoming the suspect of a murder, Todd Bishop falls into a well of chaos as he discovers the fantastically twisted secrets of his small town, in his journey to vindicate himself and return to a quiet life of order.

Would You?: A Frankensteining of Kafka’s Metamorphosis and the meme wherein girlfriends ask their boyfriends if they’d still love them were they to turn into a worm, “Would You?” explores one huge and heavy heart upon which the worm question weighs.

Grass on Your Class: At the Victor Hugo High School, French teacher Leïla Al Bachir has called a disciplinary hearing for one of her students: Simon Petit. In her quest to find a fair sanction for Simon, she realises her workplace is in serious trouble.

Your Scissors Near My Ears: Desperate for a last minute haircut the night before his wedding, a fancy client enters a cheap barbershop. But he´ll get more than he bargained for when the barber recognizes him as a very important person from his past.

Acts in Parts: Marta´s cancer makes a strong comeback. Tired of her luck, she decides to give up. That´s when three stories, filled with the most unexpected humor, will come to help her rewrite her destiny.

A Crab In The Pool: Zoe and her little brother Theo are left to fend for themselves on a scorching summer day. They will have to burst the abscess of their relationship so as not to lose each other.

Location: Hickory Community Theatre, 30 3rd St NW, Hickory, NC 28601

Saturday, September 28, 2024

10:00 AM: Youth International Film Showcase

ENCORE PRESENTATION - A collection of short films from around the world for school age children. Films are intended for children in the 4th-8th grades.

Location: Carolina Theater, 222 1st Ave NW, Hickory, NC 28601

10:00 AM: The Featherweight

The true life story of world champion Willie Pep, the fighter with the most wins in professional boxing and his long-shot journey out of retirement and back into the ring.

Location: Hickory Community Theatre, 30 3rd St NW, Hickory, NC 28601

1:00 PM: All You Hear Is Noise

A fearless documentary portrait of three athletes with intellectual disabilities navigating life beyond the international spotlight of the Special Olympics World Games.

Location: Hickory Community Theatre, 30 3rd St NW, Hickory, NC 28601

4:00 PM: Guacamole Yesterdays

A heartbroken women uses an experimental technology that allows her to revisit and manipulate her memories as a means to cope.

Location: Hickory Community Theatre, 30 3rd St NW, Hickory, NC 28601

7:00 PM: Out There: A National Parks Story

A young filmmaker sets out on a 10,000 mile exploration of the national parks with his childhood best friend during the centennial year of the formation of the National Park Service, recording stories of its wonders and visitors.

Location: Hickory Community Theatre, 30 3rd St NW, Hickory, NC 28601

9:00 PM: Gunfighter Paradise

Following the death of his mother, a hunter returns to North Carolina with a mysterious green case. He settles back into the family homestead where his mind begins to disintegrate haunted by voices, visions and his mother’s handwritten riddles.

Location: Hickory Community Theatre, 30 3rd St NW, Hickory, NC 28601

Sunday, September 29, 2024

10:00 AM: Sunday Morning Shorts

I Am More Dangerous Dead: A poetic tribute to writer, poet and environmental activist, Ken Saro-Wiwa, who was executed alongside eight other activists for opposing the environmental damage done in their oil-rich homeland, Ogoni.

A Good Day Will Come: Arash is a professional wrestler with dreams of representing his country and winning gold medals. The country is in turmoil and its people are suffering. Arash must decide between using his platform to stand up to tyranny, or put his head down and remain silent.

Rooster's Crow: Drowned in the chaos of a family reunion filled with testosterone and pig roast, Reynald will try to prove to his nephew, his family but mostly himself that he's still king.

Bite of Bénin: Adopted at the age of ten from her homeland of Bénin, West Africa, and raised in an abusive household in Connecticut, Chef Adé Carrena travels back home on a journey to reclaim her identity through food and represent what was taken away from her across the Diaspora.

12:30 PM: Red Whiteville and Blue

A group of millionaire political donors, unable to convince Congress to raise their taxes, turn to an unlikely ally: the working class residents of Whiteville, North Carolina, population 5,600.

3:00 PM: Breakup Season

A young man brings his girlfriend to his rural Oregon hometown to introduce her to his family only for things to go terribly wrong.

Location: Hickory Community Theatre, 30 3rd St NW, Hickory, NC 28601

Date:
September 21-29, 2024

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