Knoxville Film Festival to debut in September Posted: Wednesday, April 24, 2013 8:00 pm
KNOXVILLE — An award-winning filmmaker and an East Tennessee non-profit are teaming up to bring a new film festival to East Tennessee.
Keith McDaniel, an acclaimed documentary filmmaker, and Lisa Duncan, executive director of the Dogwood Arts Festival, have announced they are partnering to create the Knoxville Film Festival (KFF), a four-day event which will debut in September. The KFF will replace the Secret City Film Festival that McDaniel founded nearly a decade ago.
McDaniel said, “When I moved the Secret City Film Festival from Oak Ridge to Knoxville in 2012, the response was tremendous. Our audience almost doubled, the interest in the film festival significantly increased and the response we had from filmmakers outside the area was phenomenal. When I was approached about a partnership with Dogwood Arts, I became very excited about the possibility of creating a new film festival that would achieve the dream I had 10 years ago.”
According to McDaniel, his partnership with Dogwood Arts will create new opportunities to reach a broader audience interested in independent cinema while maintaining his original vision of encouraging local independent filmmakers and promoting their work.
Duncan said, “People have been talking to us about a Knoxville film festival for some time. During the past several months, we have had the opportunity to speak with many of those folks about their ideas for what the Knoxville Film Festival should and could become. I couldn’t be more excited about this partnership with Keith and what the Knoxville Film Festival will offer to not only the independent film production community but those who just love great independent cinema.”
McDaniel added, “I am grateful to so many over the past decade for the support they have shown the Secret City Film Festival. In a way, I hate to see it go but am very excited about replacing it with the Knoxville Film Festival.”
Plans for the Knoxville Film Festival include film screenings, workshops, special guests, networking and educational events, a filmmaking competition and a student filmmaking competition.
Knoxville Film Festival at-a-glance
The mission of the Knoxville Film Festival is to recognize and celebrate the art of independent cinema. It exists to provide a stimulating gathering in which the lovers and creators of independent cinema come together to see and discuss interesting works from local, regional, national and international filmmakers.
The Knoxville Film Festival will take place Sept. 19-22 at the Regal Downtown West Cinema 8 in Knoxville. Produced in partnership between Secret City Films and Dogwood Arts, the festival will screen feature, documentary and short films and will include workshops and educational events, filmmaking competitions, networking opportunities, special guests and social events. In addition, the festival will screen films that have been submitted for consideration by independent filmmakers from around the world. A selection committee will view all submissions with recommendations made to the festival director for inclusion in the film festival. After the slate of films has been chosen, a panel of industry professionals will watch and judge each film to determine awards which will be presented at a ceremony on the last day of the film festival.
Filmmakers may submit their films at www.knoxvillefilmfestival.com. Submission deadline is July 15. Filmmakers will be notified of their acceptance no later than Aug. 1.
Tickets can be purchased online beginning early summer at www.knoxvillefilmfestival.com. Published in The Messenger 4.24.13 | 
