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There's no more reliable draw at NaFF, year after year, than the work of local filmmakers. Films related to Tennessee have expanded from a single block to three entire programs of shorts, joined by the festival's Tennessee Spirit Award for the best film produced within the state and made by a resident. This year's offerings range from a probing portrait of a sports hero to a farce about a less-than-immaculate conception.
Documentaries. Tennessee filmmakers and subjects are represented by no fewer than four docs at NaFF this year, starting with Mind/Game: The Unquiet Journey of Chamique Holdsclaw (7:45 p.m. April 17; also 4 p.m. April 24), in which Oscar nominee Rick Goldsmith examines the UT basketball great and WNBA star's struggles with depression and mental illness. Holdsclaw will be on hand to discuss her work on behalf of fellow sufferers. A different kind of fight against illness is the subject of Semicolon; The Adventures of Ostomy Girl (1:15 p.m. April 19; also 5 p.m. April 25), in which 25-year-old Dana Bernstein faces Crohn's disease with impish good humor.
Former President Jimmy Carter and Julian Bond are among the subjects who discuss the life and impact of the late Memphis-born civil rights leader Benjamin Hooks in Duty of the Hour (5:30 p.m. April 20; also 1:15 p.m. April 25), directed by Tony Dancy and Reece Auguiste. The ghosts of the South rise again, but this time they're summoned by a unique musical project recorded in a real-live haunted house in The Orphan Brigade: Soundtrack to a Ghost Story (7 p.m. April 21; also 1:45 p.m. April 25), directed by Joshua Britt and Neilson Hubbard and featuring Kim Richey, Jim DeMain, Ben Glover, Carey Ott and the voice of Gretchen Peters.
Features. This year's crop of Tennessee features runs the gamut from action thrillers to relationship comedies. The fate of mankind rests on the shoulders of an ex-Army Ranger in Reminiscent (9 p.m. April 16; also 2:30 p.m. April 17), written and co-directed by star Justin Tandy (with Dustin Hyer). Director Scott Murphy and co-writer Matt Dearman are among the 20-somethings trying to make sense of marriage, parenthood and relationship woes in the ensemble piece Ain't It Nowhere (10 p.m. April 17; also 7:30 p.m. April 25), while the prolific Matt Riddlehoover returns with the tale of a man who discovers he's pregnant with his partner's baby in the comedy romance Paternity Leave (9 p.m. April 19; also 3:45 p.m. April 24).
As always, tickets are disappearing for the popular Tennessee Shorts 1 (5:45 p.m.; also 11:15 a.m. April 25), Tennessee Shorts 2 (12:30 p.m. April 18; also 2 p.m. April 25) and Tennessee Shorts 3 (8:30 p.m. April 16; also 4:45 p.m. April 25). Click on nashvillefilmfestival.org for more information on the individual films.
