news & updates

02.22.2010 - Macon Film Festival Announces 2010 Winners

5th Annual Macon Film Festival - 2010 Award Winners

The Melvyn Douglas BEST IN SHOW Award

Automorphosis

ANIMATION

1st Place - Sebastian’s Voodoo
2nd Place - Skylight
3rd Place - Gym Lesson

DOCUMENTARY

1st Place - Automorphosis
2nd Place - Alley Pat: The Music is Recorded
3rd Place - 45365

EXPERIMENTAL

1st Place - Even Flowers Wake Up in the Morning
2nd Place - Horizons
3rd Place - East Planet

NARRATIVE FEATURE

1st Place - Road to Sangam
2nd Place - Myna Se Va
3rd Place - Blue Bus

NARRATIVE SHORT

1st Place - Small Collection
2nd Place - Down in Number 5
3rd Place - Badewanne Zum Gluck

STUDENT

1st Place - Insha Allah
2nd Place - My Homework Ate My Dog
3rd Place - Non-Love Song

02.21.2010 - Macon native Jack McBrayer lends a comic touch to film festival

Jack McBrayer says he doesn’t get recognized in public places very often, which seems surprising for a cast member of an Emmy-winning network comedy show.

He has an explanation for his ability to remain incognito; he leaves his jacket at work. His most recognizable feature may be the navy blazer adorned with an ID badge and name tag that he wears when he portrays Kenneth Parcell, naive and bizarre page of NBC’s “30 Rock.”

Still, a lot of people recognize McBrayer in Macon, with or without his jacket. That’s because he lived here through his freshman year at Central High School. He still visits friends and relatives here frequently. His trip here this weekend was a little more hectic than most, however, because he had been booked as a celebrity guest at the Macon Film Festival.

When McBrayer sat for a series of media interviews Saturday afternoon in the SoChi Gallery downtown, he made it evident that his most distinctive attribute has nothing to do with clothing.

It’s his smile — a broad, guileless smile that makes him seem like the most cheerful person in the world. Those familiar with the world know that cheerfulness is often an inappropriate response to the situation at hand. McBrayer’s mastery of the cheerful smile is what makes him unusually funny. He says it’s the source of his success.

“I’ve been pretty lucky in terms of the projects that I’ve been given and the material I’ve been given to work with, as well as the people that I’m working with,” McBrayer said. “With all that being said, even when I was temping and waiting tables and just had regular old day jobs, I would find ways to enjoy myself and have fun with the people I was around. That has never been too, too difficult for me.”

McBrayer, 36, took a break from his “30 Rock” work in New York to return to his birthplace so he could do a Q&A session following a Saturday night screening of the 2008 comedy “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” at the Cox Capitol Theatre. The fact that it was a raunchy Judd Apatow project made him a little nervous.

“I guess more than anything, I want people to know that it is rated R. There is some nudity in it and so I’m a little out of character, but you can see how I would have fun with that project and that role. ... Let’s just say I’m a young man on his honeymoon, and we’re figuring things out.”

McBrayer left Macon in 1988, when his family moved to Conyers. He attended the University of Evansville in Indiana and then moved to Chicago. Up to that time performance had been a hobby, but he got serious about comedy when he joined the Second City improv comedy theater. He took his next step up the ladder of fame when he met Conan O’Brien.

“When I moved to New York in 2002, a lot of people who I knew from my days in Chicago at Second City improvisational comedy theater had gone on to work as writers for Conan,” McBrayer said. “So when I moved to New York, all those guys who were already there were like, ‘Hey, McBrayer’s in town. Let’s throw him a bone.’ So they would get me gigs on Conan just doing like little comedy sketches, and from there they would just continue to use me. And thank goodness, because that paid my bills in New York, which is very expensive.”

McBrayer had a particular interest in the recent dust-up over O’Brien’s departure as host of NBC’s “Tonight Show.”

“I of course was a horrified spectator to the whole thing,” McBrayer said. “I do have so much loyalty to Conan just because of the break that he gave me very early in my career. Nothing against any of the other parties involved, but ... I owe Conan O’Brien such a great deal.”

McBrayer’s breakthrough movie role was Glenn the pit crew member in “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.” He also parlayed his nerdy appeal to gain the enviable role of Mariah Carey’s love interest in her “Touch My Body” video. He says that lately he’s been building on his “kid demographic,” appearing on “The Electric Company” and taking a role in the upcoming sequel to “Cats & Dogs.” He has also provided his voice to animated TV show “Phineas and Ferb” as well as the upcoming animated feature “Despicable Me.”

A voice like McBrayer’s, with its Southern accent and tendency to call interviewers “sir,” is an uncommon commodity in New York and Los Angeles, the cities where the actor divides his time.
“I tell you, Southern accents still take people by surprise, even in 2010,” McBrayer said. “You think they’d be used to it by now. Yeah, I haven’t lost it yet, and some people, it does throw ’em for a loop. But every now and then it gets you out of some stuff, too.”

Front Page of Sundays Macon Telegraph
http://www.macon.com/2010/02/21/1031644/the-importance-of-being-cheerful.html

02.12.2010 - Actress Illeana Douglas comes to Macon

Q&A with 'Indie Queen' on grandfather Melvyn Douglas
By Bob Townsend
For the AJC

Granddaughter of cinema great Melvyn Douglas (who won Oscars for “Hud” and “Being There”), self-described “indie queen” Illeana Douglas made her mark as an actress in films such as “To Die For,” “Grace of My Heart” and “Ghost World.”

Illeana Douglas.

A longtime writer, director and producer, Douglas went online with the Web series “Illeanarama” and most recently “Easy to Assemble,” a Hollywood send-up filmed in a Burbank Ikea store that also spawned her satirical Swedish pop band, Sparhusen.

On Feb. 18, Douglas will arrive at the Macon Film Festival, where the Best in Show award will be renamed the Melvyn Douglas Award and dedicated to her grandfather, who was born in Macon in 1901.

Q: Do you know much about your grandfather’s early life in Macon?
A: Not really. Only that he was born there and his father was a musician. His father was actually a concert pianist and was on the vaudeville circuit, and I think they may have traveled around and maybe relocated to Chicago.

Q: Did you see him much growing up?
A: Very much so in terms of staying with my grandparents. I also had the opportunity to visit a couple of his movie sets and see the respect he had among his peers. I wish he could have lived longer to see me go into show business. But he was very influential as far as my going into acting and becoming an entertainer.

Q: As a kid, you were on the set of “Being There,” and recently you did the DVD commentary for the 30th-anniversary edition. What was that like?
A: As I said on the DVD, it’s a very strange memory. I was very young. I had posters of “Pink Panther” movies. And I was obsessed with Peter Sellers. So, for me, it was all about that. But it was just amazing to see how a movie was made. That particular film set just created an indelible impression in my mind. It was very, very serious. It was dead quiet. It was like walking into a play or something. The director, Hal Ashby, would go talk to the actors and everything would happen. I thought, “This is the greatest thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life.”

Q: How would you compare your career to your grandfather’s?
A: In many ways, I think our careers are similar. I started doing theater and sketch comedy, things my grandfather did. I had an established film career, and then I did more independent movies, getting into writing and producing, which is something my grandfather did. Later, he started getting into more of what they call “character acting.” When you’re an actress in Hollywood, after you turn 40, they call you a character actor. Which leads me back to a quote from my grandfather. He said, “All acting, if it’s any good, is character acting.”

Q: So now you are the “indie queen”?
A: I don’t think anyone can put me in any sort of box, but I prefer indie actress because I make independent choices. I’ve tried to be very entrepreneurial, and I’ve tried to make movies that I think my fans would like. My grandfather’s career was like that. I don’t think he was really discovered or appreciated until movies like “Hud” or “Being There.” He kind of had two careers, and I feel like my career is that way.

Q: Where does “Easy to Assemble” come from?
A: It comes from a real place. I’ve been doing this since I was 16. And I was thinking I don’t want to do this anymore. But you can’t escape it. Wherever you go, you are “carrot girl from Seinfeld” or “aren’t you that girl who got her cheek bitten off by DeNiro?” It’s not like the old days where you could be Garbo and say now I’m going to retire. Once you’re famous, you’re always famous. That’s our new kind of society.

Q: Ready for the lightning round?
A: Sure.

Q: Peter Sellers?
A: He’s my guardian angel. Before I write anything or do anything, I have a few people I call upon, and he’s one of them.

Q: “New York Stories”?
A: That was me trying to act without smiling because I couldn’t believe I was in a movie. Every scene I was in I had a huge grin on my face.

Q: Martin Scorsese?
A: Again, another iconic presence in my life and my career and love of movie making. He has really influenced me. Just the atmosphere of laughter and focus on his sets was amazing.

Q: “To Die For”?
A: What Marty was able to do was tap a natural talent that I didn’t know I had. I was just a kid and I didn’t know what I was doing, and he was able to see a quality in me that I didn’t see. But Gus Van Sant was able to create an identifiable thing. People now call that character “an Illeana Douglas-type character.”

02.06.2010 - 2010 Festival Poster

01.28.2010 - Award-Winning “That Evening Sun” to Wrap Macon Film Fest, Starring Macon-native Carrie Preston with Hal Holbrook & Dixie Carter

Macon, GA – The Macon Film Festival will close the 2010 festival with the Macon premiere of “That Evening Sun,” the award-winning film starring Macon-native Carrie Preston with Hal Holbrook, Dixie Carter, and Ray McKinnon, at 7:30 p.m.,  following the Festival awards ceremony at 7 p.m. on Sunday, February 21, 2010. Special guests for this screening will be announced next week.

Based on a short story by William Gay, “That Evening Sun” chronicles the late-in-life conflict of Abner Meecham, an elderly farmer who leaves his retirement home to return to his family farm in Tennessee only to realize his city slicker son has rented it to a couple and their daughter. He refuses to leave, instead taking up residence in a run-down building on the property and conflict with the renters ensues as Abner tries to reconcile himself to say goodbye to his beloved home. This is southern gothic at its very best.
 
Emmy and Tony Award-winning actor, Hal Holbrook, leads this outstanding cast of character actors with his real life wife, actress Dixie Carter, portraying his late wife in the film. Macon native actress, Carrie Preston, a 2009 Special Guest at the Macon Film Festival and star of HBO’s “True Blood,” along with Academy Award winning actor Ray McKinnon, plays the couple who rent the farm and butt heads with Meecham. Young rising star, actress Mia Wasikowski, known for her work on the HBO series “In Treatment,” plays their daughter, and Walton Goggins, known to tv audiences from “The Shield,” plays Meecham’s son.
 
“That Evening Sun” has already racked up 10 awards during its Film Festival circuit including a Special Jury Award for Best Ensemble cast at the SXSW (South by Southwest) Film Festival; Jury Awards at SXSW, Atlanta Film Festival and Newport International Film Festival; Best Narrative Feature at the Memphis Indie Film Festival, Audience Awards at Nashville Film Festival and the Sarasota Film Festival, Best Director Award for Scott Teems at the Birmingham Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival; and nominations for Best Supporting Actor and Actress for Mia Wasikowska and Ray McKinnon at the Independent Spirit Awards. It was also honored by the Southeast Film Critics Association with a Wyatt Award.
 
The Macon Film Festival is supported by grant of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation through the Community Foundation of Central Georgia. The festival is headquartered at the historic Cox Capitol Theatre in downtown Macon. For tickets, call the Capitol box office at 478-257-6391 or visit CoxCapitolTheatre.com. Complete information about the film festival, including the screening schedule, may be found at MaconFilmFestival.com.
 
Media relations for Macon Film Festival are handled by Terrell Sandefur (478-319-0243;Terrell@maconfilmfestival.com) and Cindy Hill (478-731-5917; cindy@maconfilmfestival.com).

01.25.2010 - Big Jack Attack: “30 Rock” Star (and Macon native) Jack McBrayer Comes Home to Headline Macon Film Festival

Macon, GA – Actor and Macon native Jack McBrayer, who currently stars in NBC’s award-winning comedy “30 Rock,” will return to his hometown for the Macon Film Festival (“MaGa”) special screening of “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” followed by Q&A with Jack on Saturday, February 20, 2010, at the Cox Capitol Theatre at 8:15 p.m.
 
While he’s probably best known as Kenneth the Page from “30 Rock,” Jack McBrayer has turned in unforgettable performances in films including “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby,” “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story,” and “Forgetting Sarah Marshall.”  Jack also had memorable guest starring roles in the television comedies “Arrested Development” and “Phineas and Ferb.” Music video fans will remember him as the “compu nerd” in the Mariah Carey “Touch My Body” music video.
 
For his work on “30 Rock” Jack was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2009 for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy. He and the cast won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series in 2009, and they were nominated for the same honor in 2008 and 2010.
 
Jack was born in Macon in 1973. His parents, Jim and Betty McBrayer, were teachers and Jack and siblings Pete and Katie attended Bibb County Public schools. The family moved to Conyers, Georgia, when Jack was in high school and it was there that he became interested and active in Theatre. He went on to graduate from the University of Evansville in Indiana; as did fellow Macon-native actress, Carrie Preston, who was a special guest at the 2009 Macon Film Festival.
 
After college Jack cut his comedy chops with Chicago’s famed Second City comedy improv company, which has Dan Aykroyd, Tina Fey, Tim Meadows, Mike Myers, and Amy Sedaris among dozens of other comedy icons. He acted in several independent films before landing roles in “Talladega Nights” and “30 Rocks” which established him firmly as a rising comedy star. The Macon Film Festival is honored to welcome Jack back to the midstate for the Macon Film Festival.
 
The Macon Film Festival is supported by grant of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation through the Community Foundation of Central Georgia. The festival is headquartered at the historic Cox Capitol Theatre in downtown Macon. For tickets, call the Capitol box office at 478-257-6391 or visit CoxCapitolTheatre.com. Complete information about the film festival, including the screening schedule, may be found at MaconFilmFestival.com.
 
Media relations for Macon Film Festival are handled by Terrell Sandefur (478-319-0243;Terrell@maconfilmfestival.com) and Cindy Hill (478-731-5917; cindy@maconfilmfestival.com).

01.24.2010 - Actress Illeana Douglas to Kick Off 5th Macon Film Festival and Dedication of Award to her Macon-native Grandfather, Melvyn Douglas

Macon, GA – Actress Illeana Douglas will kick off the 5th Macon Film Festival (“MaGa”) on Thursday, February 18, 2010, with the special screening of “Easy to Assemble” at the Cox Capitol Theatre at 7:45 p.m. Earlier that day the Best In Show award will be renamed for Douglas’ grandfather, Academy Award-winning actor and Macon native Melvyn Douglas.

Her name is familiar to film buffs, but others will recognize Illeana Douglas from the numerous memorable roles in films like Message in a Bottle, Cape Fear, Goodfellas, To Die For, Grace of My Heart, Stir of Echoes, The Perfect Woman, and Happy, Texas; and recurring roles on television series including Ugly Betty, Law & Order: SVU, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Action, and Six Feet Under, for which she was nominated for an Emmy Award. In addition to acting she has written, directed and produced for film.

Ms. Douglas brings her innovative web-based film series, Easy to Assemble, to MaGa. She starred in, wrote, and produced the comedy about an actress who “quits Hollywood” and goes to work at Ikea. The series co-starred Justine Bateman and a list of special guests that reads like a who’s who in Hollywood independent film, including Jane Lynch, Jeff Goldblum and Robert Patrick. Easy to Assemble Producer Dominik Rausch will join Illeana at the screening and Q&A and they will lead a free filmmaking workshop at MaGa.

Like her grandfather, Illeana was born a Hesselberg, and like her grandfather, she adopted his Scottish mother’s maiden name, Douglas, as her stage name. Melvyn Douglas was born in Macon on April 5, 1901. His career began on Broadway in 1928 and alternated between stage and screen for the rest of his life. He won Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor in Hud and Being There (for which he also won a Golden Globe) and he was nominated for Best Actor for his work in I Never Sang for My Father. He had memorable roles in The Changeling, The Seduction of Joe Tynan, Death Takes a Holiday, Ninotchka (opposite Greta Garbo) and Ghost Story. He won an Emmy Award for a CBS Playhouse performance and was nominated for his turn in Inherit the Wind, and he won a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for The Best Man. His wife of 50 years, Helen Gahagan Douglas, was a 3-term Congresswoman in California and served as Secretary of the Treasury under President Kennedy.

The Macon Film Festival’s Best In Show award will be renamed the Melvyn Douglas Award and dedicated at a ceremony with Illeana Douglas at 1:30 p.m. on February 18. This award is given to festival jurors’ pick of the best competition film each year. The dedication will be followed by a special “Melvyn Douglas Matinee” screening of The Candidate at 2 p.m. This is a rare screening of the 1972 archival film in which Douglas plays the father of Robert Redford, made possible by a special arrangement with Warner Brothers.

The Macon Film Festival is headquartered at the historic Cox Capitol Theatre in downtown Macon. For tickets, call the Capitol box office at 478-257-6391 or visit CoxCapitolTheatre.com. Complete information about the film festival, including the screening schedule, may be found at MaconFilmFestival.com.

Media relations for Macon Film Festival are handled by Terrell Sandefur (478-319-0243; Terrell@maconfilmfestival.com) and Cindy Hill (478-731-5917; cindy@maconfilmfestival.com).

01.24.2010 - Macon Film Festival Gets “Stuck!” With Steve Balderson and the Georgia Premiere of the Macon-Made Movie

12.17.2009 - MaGa 2010 Tickets on sale now!

Get your tickets now for the 5th Annual Macon Film Festival. Tickets are on sale now at  https://tickets.coxcapitoltheatre.com/. If you've been in years past, you know you don't want to miss a single minute. Check back often for news and updates about special guests and events. We look forward to seeing you!

11.24.2009 - Arrested Development’s Hale Hits Macon for Film Festival Fundraiser

Macon, GA - The Macon Film Festival and NewTown Macon bring you one fabulous evening of funny on December 18th as "Arrested Development" star Tony Hale hits town with "The Best of Buster Bluth," his three favorite episodes of the cult tv show and soon-to-be feature film.
 
This is the first time that Hale has selected or screened his favorite episodes. The event begins at 8 p.m. at the Cox Capitol Theatre and will be followed by Q&A with the audience. Tickets are available at CoxCapitolTheatre.com; $10 general admission and $5 for students with ID. You can enjoy $1 pizza slices and draft beer from 7 to 8 p.m. This event is a fund-raiser for the 5th Annual Macon Film Festival, slated for February 18 – 21, 2010. This year’s roster of special guests will be announced in mid-December.
 
Tony Hale is also known for his recent turn as James Epstein in "The Informant!" starring Matt Damon, and other character parts in films including, "The Tale of Desperaux" and "Stranger than Fiction" with Will Ferrell and Emma Thompson; and tv series including "Numbers," "Chuck" and "ER." He’s also a cult favorite for memorable roles in ads like VW’s "Mr. Roboto" and Taco Bell’s "Yo Quiero Taco Bell" spots that co-star a precociousChihuahua.
 
"Arrested Development" was created by Mitchell Hurwitz and is a production of Ron Howard’s Imagine Entertainment. It debuted on the Fox network in 2003 and during its run it earned 6 Emmys, 1 Golden Globe and several other industry awards. The series ended in 2006 and speculation about a feature film began. Feature film production is now scheduled to begin in 2010 with an anticipated 2011 release date.
 
Tony’s ties to Central Georgia extend beyond the Macon Film Festival. His parents, Rita and Mike Hale, reside in Macon. Mr. Hale is the Executive Director of the Warner Robins campus of Macon State College.
 
For more information contact Terrell Sandefur, 478.319.0243, Terrell@theSoChiCompanies.com; or Cindy Hill, 478.731.5917, cindy@maconarts.org.

09.17.2009 - True Blood's Carrie Preston is phenomenal in 'Lovely By Surprise' | The Vault

The Vault's reporter Janet attended the screening of Carrie Preston's Lovely By Surprise On Saturday, September 12, the Macon Film and Video Festival. Source: www.trueblood-online.com

09.14.2009 - Concert caps spurt of activity by College Hill group - Local & State - Macon

It was a busy weekend for the College Hill Corridor Commission. On Friday, the urban revival group held its first Downtown Look-Around, a scavenger hunt designed to teach new college students about Macon’s history. Source: www.macon.com

06.10.2009 - MAGA Film Festival Scores Touchdown

The fourth annual MAGA Film & Video Festival opened on February 18, 2009, at the Grand Opera House in Macon, Georgia. The festival kicked off with the special appearance of Gov. Sonny Perdue and the legendary former University of Georgia athletics director, Vince Dooley. It was a film festival touchdown!...Read more

02.15.2009 - Macon film festival expands in fourth year

When the Macon Film & Video Festival began in 2006, organizers kept the event relatively modest. Now three years later, the festival - nicknamed MAGA - has grown into a full-blown festival, expanding to three venues and adding a host of big headliners.

The festival runs from Wednesday to Feb. 22 at the Cox Capitol Theatre, the Douglass Theatre and the Grand Opera House...Read more