Hickory – The 2025 Footcandle Film Festival will be held between September 19th and 28th, marking the eleventh year of the festival bringing films from around the world to the Hickory and Catawba County area and hosting discussion with the filmmakers that made them.
A complete schedule and list of the films, their descriptions, and trailers can be found on the festival website (www.footcandlefilmfestival.com).
On Saturday, September 20th, there will be a special outdoor concert and film screening at the Hum in downtown Hickory serving as a kick-off to the upcoming festival week. THE BLACK TIE EVENT BAND will perform music inspired by the film of the evening, followed by an outdoor screening of the film DREAMGIRLS.
The festival proper then starts with an opening night Hickory premiere film screening of A LITTLE PRAYER on Wednesday, September 24th at 7:00pm at the Carolina Theater in Downtown Hickory. The film stars David Strathairn and is written and directed by Angus MacLachlan, a Winston-Salem native best known for writing the screenplay for the 2005 film JUNEBUG.
The next day, the festival is hosting a “Filmmaker Symposium”, a free 2-hour event at the SALT Block where a panel of independent filmmakers will talk about the ins-and-outs of making movies, including how to acquire funding, how to cast your film, and how to distribute it once it is done. This event is meant for anyone interested in the world of independent filmmaking or just wanting to learn about the experiences of our visiting filmmakers.
At 7:00pm that evening, the festival will hold a free event at the Hickory Community Theater to premiere short films produced during a weekend-long filmmaking competition the previous weekend. Filmmaking teams that participated in the FilmLAB competition will show their films for the first time, and audiences will get to vote on their favorite to see which team wins this year’s award.
Another special event of the festival is the Children’s Short Film Showcase, a collection of animated films from around the world. This free event will screen several short films all suitable for younger audiences. There will be two screening times for this program: Thursday, September 25th, 4:30pm at the Hickory Community Theatre, and Saturday, September 27th, 10:00am at the Carolina Theater in Downtown Hickory. Both sessions are free and open to the public with no ticket needed in advance.
On Friday, Saturday and Sunday, September 26th-28th, the festival will be showing films that were submitted from filmmakers around the world and selected by the festival screening committee. Over 400 films were submitted for consideration for this year’s festival and 30 were selected to be shown during this year’s event. The films are a mixture of narrative and documentaries as well as feature-length and short films. All films over the weekend will be shown at in-person screenings at the Hickory Community Theatre in Downtown Hickory.
Many of the filmmakers will be joining the festival either in-person or virtually throughout the weekend to discuss their work with attendees in question-and-answer sessions.
At 7:00pm on Sunday night, September 28th, there will be a Closing Awards Ceremony at the Hickory Community Theatre where winners from the festival will be announced. There will be ten awards presented at this year’s awards ceremony determined by a combination of panels of judges and audience voting. The event will announce the recipients of the 2025 Footcandle Filmmaker Grants which are awarded to help fund upcoming North Carolina-based film projects.
Tickets can be purchased for any of the individual films or attendees can purchase a Festival Pass that allow them to attend any of the festival. The FilmLAB premiere event, the Children’s Short Film Showcase, and the Closing Awards Ceremony are all free and open to the public.
Tickets are now on sale for the general public by visiting www.footcandlefilmfestival.com and clicking the link on the home page to view the schedule, view the selections, and purchase tickets or passes. Tickets can be purchased with credit or debit cards; taxes and credit card charges will apply. Tickets will remain on sale up through the weekend of the film festival.
The Footcandle Film Society has been screening and facilitating discussions on films in Western North Carolina since its inception in 2008. Through monthly film screenings, discussions, partnerships with various international and educational organizations, the film society has built a community of over 600 members that support film efforts in our region.
For any questions about the festival please contact the film society at info@footcandle.org or visit the festival’s web site at www.footcandlefilmfestival.com.
