Early selections are in for Wilmington’s own annual film festival.
Cucalorus has already announced 116 picks for its 21st annual event Nov. 11-15. Among them are feature films like Trey Edward Schults’ “KRISHA,” winner of the South By Southwest 2015 Grand Jury and Audience Awards, and Stephen Cone’s pious dramedy, “Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party.” Ingrid Veniger’s “He Hated Pigeons” will have its U.S. premiere at Cucalorus, accompanied by a live score performed during the screening.
Among the documentary selections are Stanley Nelson’s “The Black Panthers: Vanguards of the Revolution” and the southeastern premiere of Jillian Corse’s “Trichster,” which won The LA Center Studios Young Filmmaker Award.
The festival’s Works-in-Progress program, a workshop-style review of top social documentaries in-the-making, includes Byron Hurt’s “Hazing: How Badly Do You Want In?,” Deborah Riley Draper’s “Olympic Pride, American Prejudice” and Michael Premo’s “Water Warriors.”
Recently named one of MovieMaker Magazine’s “25 Coolest Film Festivals in the World, 2015,” Cucalorus draws an international audience and is recognized for its creative, provocative and original programming.
A new element to the long-running festival this year will be Cucalorus CONNECT, a first-of-its-kind emerging business conference and showcase for the Wilmington area.
Teaming up with local game-changers–CloudWyze, tekMountain and UNC-Wilmington’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE), among them–and city officials, the weeklong event will be in conjunction with film screenings.
A bit like the longstanding South by Southwest in Austin, Texas–and a lot like CIE’s inaugural Coastal Connect Entrepreneur and Capital Conference, which was held in September–Cucalorus’ conference is aimed at bringing together entrepreneurs and leaders in a variety of fields to network and share ideas among themselves and with the public.
Click here to see all early selections and purchase festival passes. The complete list of film festival and conference selections will be announced next month, with a final event lineup of more than 200 films and approximately 30 keynote speakers, panels, breakouts groups and social events.
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