Get ready to watch a lot of film in Fort Smith.
More than 200 films will be shown during the fourth annual Fort Smith International Film Festival coming Aug. 22-24. And there is a new place to view films this year, as well, at the former Fort Smith Trade Winds Motor Inn that has been converted into luxury apartments and meeting space.
The 2024 Fort Smith International Film Festival will highlight more than 80 Arkansas and Oklahoma filmmakers along with movies from over 30 counties, nations and tribes, according to spokeswoman Lynn Wasson.
“The goal of the River Valley Film Society is to grow our region’s creative economy and the best way to do that is to give area filmmakers a platform to show their movies,” said Wasson, the film society president, in a news release. “We are taking that a step further encouraging young artists through a partnership with Northside to host this year high school film festival.”
The high school showcase has developed into its own festival and will have international, national, and regional films August 24 at Northside’s auditorium.
Film fest expands with the MidAmerica Film Market
Official selections have been made for the 2024 festival and market.
The film festival features 201 local, regional, national, and international movies. To accommodate the increased number of screenings, the festival and market are expanding into a two venue, three-day event, Thursday, Friday and Saturday at the venues, TempleLive, 200 N. 11th St., and The Bricks at Brunswick, 101 N. 11th St. The Bricks at Brunwick is Fort Smith’s new downtown entertainment and event space. The building was once the Fort Smith Trade Winds Motor Inn. The swimming pool is still there, and hotel rooms were turned into luxury apartments that were renovated and opened in 2023.
Brandon Chase Goldsmith, executive director of the festival, said the event has grown into the largest one of its kind in the region.
“With 201 films, I believe in terms of number of movies screened we are the largest film festival in our region” Goldsmith said. “To increase our inventory for the MidAmerica Film Market we doubled our feature length screenings to a total of 34 movies, with regional spotlights from Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, and Mississippi, and selections across the nation from California and Georgia including 5 Hollywood features from Porter + Craig Film and Media along with international films from Canada, Britain, Mexico, India, and Kazakhstan.”
For those not in the mood for feature-length movies, a majority of the screenings are short films that are 10 to 20 minutes long and range from comedy to action, drama, science fiction, westerns and more, the news release states. Ticket sales started July 5 at FortSmithFilm.com .
During the month of July, people can take advantage of an early bird special where day passes, three-day passes and VIP tickets are 20% off, the release says.
This year’s films feature some of the final on-screen performances of Hollywood legends Sidney Poitier, Juanita Moore, and Louis Gossett Jr. and highlight current stars such as Anthony Rapp from STAR TREK: DISCOVERY and country music star Tracy Lawrence. With the quality of submissions increasing the festival will screen full length and short films with cast members from Creed, Black Panther, Fantastic Four, Starwars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi, Jerry Maguire, Stuart Little, Jurassic World Dominion, Criminal Minds, Castle, Grey's Anatomy, Dexter, Station 19, 90210, Sons of Anarchy, Game of Thrones, NYPD Blue, CSI: Cyber , Chicago P.D, Modern Family, Fear The Walking Dead, Gosnell: The Trial of America's Biggest Serial Killer, The Punisher, Quantico, American Horror Story, Dances with Wolves, Tulsa King, Killers of the Flower Moon and more.
The 2024 Fort Smith International Film Festival will highlight over 80 Arkansas and Oklahoma filmmakers along with movies from over 30 counties, nations, and tribes.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Got popcorn? Expanded Fort Smith International Film Festival returns Aug. 22-24
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