The Magnolia Independent Film Festival, Mississippi’s oldest and longest-running film festival, will present its 29th installment Feb. 19-21 at the UEC Hollywood Premiere Cinema in Starkville.Â
“This year’s theme focuses on the craft of storytelling,” said festival director Chris Misun. “We think it’s a nice way to finish out the festival’s 20s as we look forward to celebrating a huge milestone for our 30th anniversary next year.”
A key to the MAG’s longevity is its focus on providing southern hospitality for visiting filmmakers. This year, 15 filmmakers will be in attendance for post-screening Q&As.
The films, which originate from seven countries and 10 U.S. states, include two feature films and 30 shorts of various forms such as narrative, documentary, animation, music videos and student projects.
The festival kicks off Thursday, Feb. 19 at 6:30 p.m., headlined by the feature documentary Ali Eats America, about a 17-year-old battling cancer whose love of food shows sends him on a cross-country culinary tour. Some other highlights of the Thursday block include: the documentary short Asking the Forest for a Flute, a portrait of north Mississippi craftsman Darrell Johnson by Water Valley filmmaker Robbie Fisher; Waiting in the Wings, a narrative short by University of Mississippi film program graduate Kaitlyn Marie File; as well as other shorts from the UK, Spain, India and New York.
The Friday night block beginning at 6:30 p.m. is headlined by a showcase of the top selections from the MAG’s fourth annual 48-Hour Film Competition held in August 2025 and supplemented by shorts from Florida, New Orleans, Georgia and the UK.
“The films that we got this year were just above and beyond our expectations of a 48-hour film competition,” Misun said. “They really knocked it out of the park. My hope is that the competition will continue to grow and supplement the MAG.”
Saturday morning starting at 11 a.m. is the MAG’s family friendly block, which offers only G or PG fare. Mississippi is represented by Interlude, a narrative short from filmmaker Jesaiah Burnett that was shot in Southaven, and three animated, two narrative and one documentary short representing California, Germany, Australia, Canada and more.
Also, on Saturday starting at 1 p.m. there are two educational events sponsored by Film Mississippi. First is the Crowdfunding for Independent Film workshop hosted by Mississippi State University Department of Communication, Media and Theatre professor Marty Lang. Lang is an accomplished director and producer and recently joined the faculty at MSU having previously served as the Director of the MFA program in Film, Television and Digital Media at the University of Georgia. He is the author of The Self-Sustaining Filmmaker: Creating Crowdsourced, Crowdfunded and Community-Supported Independent Film.
“One of the toughest nuts to crack for an aspiring filmmaker is getting their project funded,” said Film Mississippi director Nina Parikh. “As more and more indie projects are seeing the light of day through crowdfunding, we’re delighted that Marty can share his wisdom with our film community.”
The workshop will be followed by a panel discussion, “Celebrating the Craft of Storytelling,” hosted by Lang. Panelists will include Memphis filmmaker Brandon Russell, who has written and directed seven short films and has his first feature in development, and Knoxville, Tenn., filmmaker Kevin Keck, who has five shorts under his belt and two feature scripts in development.
Lastly, the closing block of the Mag starts at 6 p.m. headlined by the shot-in-Oklahoma feature thriller Anywhere from writer-director Adam Siedel that stars Hayley McFarland, Joshua Burge and Sean Gunn. Other highlights include: (I’m Not) Your Negroni, a documentary short by Bruce native filmmaker Antonio Tarrell; a music video for the song “Digging My Own Grave” by Jackson artist Sam Donald that was directed by Clinton native filmmaker J.B. Lawrence; as well as shorts from Austria, New York and Michigan. The block will be followed by the festival’s awards ceremony, which will be held in the theatre.
For tickets and more information, visit magnoliafilmfest.com.Â
