365 Things to Do in Memphis #274: The Indie Memphis Film Festival

Grab your popcorn: the 15th annual Indie Memphis film festival is taking over Midtown this weekend. Assignment #274 in the 365 Things to Do in Memphis is to check out the festival's screening of films from Memphis, the Mid-South and beyond.

This year's festival is in Overton Square from Nov. 1 – 4 with screenings at Playhouse on the Sqaure, Studio on the Square, Circuit Playhouse and the Brooks Museum of Art. 

As usual, the festival schedule includes a ton of made-in-Memphis features, documentaries and shorts, a a handful of films that played at other big deal festivals, and tons of short features grouped by theme on every day of the festival.

The biggest screenings, at least for locals and music fans, will be "Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me" and "Antenna". A rough cut of the Big Star documentary previewed in Memphis a few months ago, and it's definitely worth seeing if you're a fan of the band. "Antenna" is a documentary about the now-defunct nighclub of the same name and its impact on Memphis' underground music culture.

Also, there's going to be a retrospective of work by Memphis-based filmmaker Ira Sachs (including "Forty Shades of Blue") scattered throughout the festival, and a talk / screening with Craig Brewer about his early inspirations.

The festival does have a few new additions this year. There will be a series of technology workshops and talks (called Innovation Conversations) focused on trends in media, new software and innovations in digital storytelling and filmmaking. There's also going to be a Hack-a-thon, where participants can pitch their ideas for the best app that hasn't been invented yet.

The pricing and ticketing structure has also been revamped for this year's festival. You can still purchase full festival passes ($100 for a pass that gets you into all screenings, gala screenings, parties, workshops and receptions or $50 for a pass that gets you into all non-gala screenings and panels). Day passes for all non-gala films are $20, or you could take your chances with rush tickets, which are $10 cash-only tickets that will be sold to fill any remaining seats 5 minutes before screenings.

For a full schedule of films at this year's festival, go here.

For information about tickets, go here.

Go there:

15th Annual Indie Memphis Film Festival

Nov. 1 – 4, 2012
Overton Square