2026 Macon Film Festival

TITLE: Ancestral Mirrors 
DIRECTOR: Arshley Emile
TRT:10:10
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: United States (Georgia Made)
SYNOPSIS: Through ancestral mirrors, fragments of Black culture, church ritual, and generational memory reflect a community wrestling with faith, displacement, and the persistence of spirit.
RATINGS: None


TITLE: Miracles: The Redd Family Collection of Black Art
DIRECTOR: Mikael Owunna, Marques Redd
TRT: 47:55
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: United States (Georgia Made)
SYNOPSIS: In 1990, Melgenia and Vernon Redd opened a gallery called Miracles Fine Art, and it was the first institution of its kind in Macon, GA, that specialized in exhibiting the work of Black artists. Inspired by an activist passion forged in an era that saw the end of Jim Crow, they were determined to contribute to the preservation and celebration of Black art and culture. Over time, they built a collection of over 800 items, including paintings, sculptures, masks, mixed media works, and woven fabrics. In 1996, the gallery was closed due to health challenges. The entire collection was subsequently moved to storage. This documentary explores the history of the collection and its revival in the 2020s by their children Marques Redd and Marquita Sams.
RATINGS: None

TITLE: Athens by Kaleidoscope
DIRECTOR: Christopher Flippo
TRT: 3:51
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: United States
SYNOPSIS: An ode to Athens, Georgia in 3 parts.
RATINGS: None

TITLE: I Wanted to Hear Your Voice
DIRECTOR: James Pellerito
TRT: 12:00
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: United States
SYNOPSIS: After eight years of caring for his mother with severe dementia, a son struggles through their daily care routine. Recorded voicemails serve to show the progression of the disease, underscoring the frustration, isolation and burnout that comes with intensive caregiving.
RATINGS: None

TITLE: Thank You for Listening
DIRECTOR: Gene Gallerano, Bob Ray
TRT: 27:00
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: United States
SYNOPSIS: Joshua Ray Walker faces the fragility of life as he confronts a life-altering cancer diagnosis. As he prepares to return to the Grand Ole Opry, the film captures an intimate portrait of an artist grappling with mortality while confronting the legacy he will leave behind. Blending lyrical visuals, performance, and moments of quiet reflection, the film explores how music sustains, redeems, and endures. It is a meditation on resilience, legacy, and the human drive to create meaning even in the face of life’s limits.
RATINGS: None

TITLE: In the Garden
DIRECTOR: Ivey Redding
TRT: 11:01
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: United States
SYNOPSIS: “In the Garden” is a three-generational reflection piece set in rural Georgia, where the director’s mother reflects on the life of her own aging mother. Blending documentary and narrative forms, the film tells the story of the grandmother’s life through a lyrical, long-form poem. What began as an effort to preserve the director's childhood memories—deeply tied to her grandmother and the Southern landscape—evolved into a meditation on aging and solitude. It’s an exploration of memory, family, and the inescapable pull of home.
RATINGS: None

TITLE: Willie and His Pigs
DIRECTOR: Emily Cooper
TRT: 14:02
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: United States
SYNOPSIS: Every 9 months, rural Kentucky-based regenerative farmer Willie Houston brings home a small group of piglets. He raises them, names them, cares for them, and has to say goodbye. "Willie & his Pigs" is about grief, joy, and bacon. This subtle portrait challenges assumptions of masculinity in farming and explores who bears the emotional weight of ethically raising animals.
RATINGS: None

TITLE: Born Secret
DIRECTOR: Riley Fitchpatrick
TRT: 19:40
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: United States
SYNOPSIS: A filmmaker returns to his hometown that built the atomic bomb. There he meets the workers who created humanity's greatest weapon that now wrestle with their legacy, while their grandchildren inherit a world on the brink of nuclear catastrophe.
RATINGS: None