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Cookeville – Downtown Film Festival Presented By WCTE and the Storyteller Agency
The inaugural WCTE-PBS Downtown Film Festival, in partnership with the Cookeville Performing Arts Center and The Storyteller Agency will illuminate Cookeville’s Historic West Side. The festival is a celebration of the best in non-fiction film, including a one-minute competition of viewer-submitted content via the PBS American Portrait digital platform, starring you and your community.
THE FESTIVAL
Everyone has a story, and this year those stories will be told in a big way at Downtown Film, with a full schedule of festival award-winning documentaries, interesting talk-backs, engaging workshops with filmmakers, live music, and delicious food and drink from area restaurants, bars, and area favorite food trucks.
On Saturday evening, as the sun goes down, the festival takes cinema under the stars for an after-dark film walkabout, with the top local videos from the American Portrait video categories projected onto the sides of Cookeville’s landmark west side buildings.
SUBMIT YOUR VIDEO – BE A STAR!
The PBS American Portrait video project is open to anyone and everyone who would like to submit, requiring only a one-minute video look into your life, guided by prompts such as “I was
raised to believe . .. ” and “What gets me out of bed in the morning is … ” Now is the time to tell your story and see your face on the big screen!
Submitting your American Portrait video is so easy – check out this “How-To” video for a quick tutorial, then grab your cell phone, hit record, and boom! You’re instantly a star, with a chance to see your face and your story illuminated in a big way during the festival.
How-To Video: https://youtu.be/m1zwUTPbl9o
American Portrait Submission Link: https://www.pbs.org/american-portrait/create
FESTIVAL SUBMISSIONS AND AWARDS
Downtown Film Festival is open to submissions from filmmakers around the world, and winners will receive an award and a direct pipeline to public media, with work shown on WCTE and awards will be given in the following categories:
1. Best Documentary
2. Best Mini-Documentary
3. The Stanger Award – honoring and celebrating the best unfinished documentary
4. Young Filmmakers’ Award – celebrating and honoring works submitted by filmmakers
ages 14-19
Downtown Film’s walking cinema tour is free and open to the public, with no ticket purchase required. Workshops, screenings at CPAC, and other festival happenings will incur a separate ticket cost. VIP wristbands are available for festival-goer purchase, including a full schedule of happenings, festival merchandise, discounts at local restaurants during the festival, and more.
A NOTE ABOUT CURRENT CLIMATE
Careful consideration is being given to current community, state, and national precautions regarding COVID-19. Our goal is to make sure everyone stays safe and healthy, and special precautions of our own will be taken at the festival to encourage social distancing and stay sanitary. We are staying abreast of this current and ever-changing situation and taking every suggested step to ensure safety, and our precautions and planning will be fluid as the situation evolves.
