2026 Indie Memphis Comes Full Circle
Indie Memphis is back.
The 28th Indie Memphis Film Festival returns November 5–8 after taking a year off, with screenings centered Downtown and encore screenings in Midtown November 9–10.
And if the preview party was any indication, Memphis is ready for it.
Indie Memphis Preview Party 2026 - Joseph Carr and Alicia George
Indie Memphis Preview Party 2026 - Metal Museum
The event was packed. It felt like all the usual suspects from the Memphis film community were there—filmmakers, artists, producers, longtime supporters and people who have been part of Indie Memphis for years. It was genuinely great to see that kind of turnout for the festival’s comeback.
A bunch of us from BVO went because we’re all fans of Indie Memphis and film. Joanna Harris, Catherine Hicks, Marvin Stockwell and I were there, and somewhere along the way the night became unexpectedly nostalgic for me.
The preview was held at the new Metal Museum in the former Memphis College of Art building. At one point I was standing in the auditorium next to Metal Museum Executive Director Carissa Hussong when it suddenly occurred to me: this was where Indie Memphis started for me.
It was sometime around 1999 when my friend Eric Wilson said, basically, “Let’s go see some weird indie films.” Indie Memphis had only been founded the year before. I was already very familiar with the building as an MCA graduate, but that night introduced me to another creative community in Memphis.
Standing there again nearly three decades later brought a lot of memories flooding back.
Clare Grant and Seth Green were among the names announced for this year’s festival, and seeing Clare’s name immediately reminded me of working with her years ago on Sarah Fleming’s Other Side of the Pillow. Clare acted in the film, and I worked on editing and sound and wrote some of the music.
Indie Memphis Film Festival 2026
And then there’s another full-circle connection: Sarah Fleming is back in this year’s festival with Laura Jean Hocking. Their documentary short, Come On, Boy, is also part of this year’s lineup.
So here I was, standing in the same building where I first remember experiencing Indie Memphis, thinking about a film I worked on with Sarah and Clare years ago, while Sarah has a new film playing in the festival today.
It made me think about those early years of independent filmmaking in Memphis: people making films with whatever equipment they could get their hands on, not much money, friends acting as crew, and everybody figuring things out as they went.
It was scrappy.
But people made things.
And looking around Indie Memphis today, what really struck me was how many people are still making things and still supporting other people who make them.
My friend Alicia George is now Co-Executive Director of Indie Memphis. Savannah Bearden, who I remember doing some wonderfully strange little festival skits over the years, is now Board Chair. Les Edwards is still there as Treasurer. Filmmaker Morgan Jon Fox is still involved.
There are a lot of familiar names and faces throughout the organization and festival, and there is something reassuring about that continuity.
I've moved somewhat out of the filmmaking world myself. BVO and other projects have taken me in different directions, even though video, storytelling, sound and filmmaking are still very much part of the work I do. So maybe I've been watching Memphis film culture from a little farther away than I used to.
But seeing that room packed with people who still care about independent film in Memphis reminded me how important it is that people keep doing this.
And there is a lot in this year's festival that feels distinctly Memphis.
One film I'm particularly looking forward to is Bobby Rush: King of the Chitlin’ Circuit. I've had the privilege of interviewing Bobby Rush before, and Live From Memphis filmed him years ago—we still have some of those performances in our YouTube archive. Bobby is one of those larger-than-life figures who feels inseparable from this part of the country and its musical culture. I can't wait to see the documentary.
The festival also opens with Sam Pollard's The Lorraine, centered on Memphis' Lorraine Motel, while Memphis filmmaker Ira Sachs' The Man I Love closes the festival. Alongside films coming into Memphis from around the country and the world, Indie Memphis continues to create a place for work made by filmmakers from this community.
That's important.
And then there is one more full-circle piece I somehow forgot while thinking about all of this: the Indie Memphis Filmmakers After-Hours Party on November 7 is being held at BVO.
That's kind of crazy to me.
BVO’s The River of Time on Mud Island.
Nearly three decades after first walking into Indie Memphis at the College of Art to watch weird independent films, the festival's filmmakers are now coming to something I've spent years building.
I don't know if I could have planned a better full-circle moment.
Independent filmmaking has changed enormously since those first Indie Memphis years. The cameras are better. Editing tools that once required expensive equipment are sitting on laptops. Films can reach audiences in ways we couldn't have imagined when we were making things in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
But some things haven't changed much.
Filmmakers still need money. They need crews, equipment, places to show their work and audiences willing to see it. Most importantly, they need a community that believes making films in Memphis is worth doing.
And it’s still about storytelling. That's what Indie Memphis has always represented to me.
So there was something fitting about standing inside my old art school—now beginning another life as the Metal Museum—watching Indie Memphis begin another chapter of its own, surrounded by people who have been part of Memphis' creative community for decades.
And now, a few weeks later, some of those filmmakers will end up at BVO.
It really does feel full circle.
I'm glad Memphians are still making films.
I want to see more films made by Memphis people. And I hope Memphis continues finding ways to support the filmmakers who are doing the difficult work of making them—and the institutions like Indie Memphis that give that work a place to be seen.
The 28th Indie Memphis Film Festival runs November 5–8, 2026, with encore screenings November 9–10.
Rather than try to reproduce the festival's extensive lineup here, visit the official Indie Memphis Film Festival website for the complete schedule, film guide, passes and ticket information.
