Fast film fest facts:
• This would have been the 10th Indigo Moon Film Festival
• It presented 60 to 80 films annually in downtown Fayetteville
• Past festival films included ‘Hondros,’ about the war photographer from Fayetteville, and ‘Black Barbie’
• Organizers hope to surmount their challenges and resume the festival in fall 2026
The 10th annual Indigo Moon Film Festival — a weekend to see dozens of shorts, documentaries, local films and movies from across the country and the world — has been canceled. But organizers say they want to revive it next year.
The event was scheduled for October 10-12. But GroundSwell Pictures, which operates the festival, had trouble raising money and getting sponsorships to stage this year’s event amid rising costs, GroundSwell executive director Brandon Plotnick said.
“In a year filled with leadership transition challenges, as well as economic uncertainty, we didn’t want to do a disservice to what this festival can and should be,” he said.
Jan Johnson and Pat Wright of Fayetteville founded GroundSwell Pictures in 2014 and held the first Indigo Moon Film Festival in fall 2016. Plotnick and Erika Forbes took over on January 1.
A ‘perfect storm’ scenario
“Sponsorships are tough, hotel costs are tough. All of those kinds of things are difficult for everybody right now,” Plotnick said. “And certainly grant funding from multiple areas is far more difficult and there’s not as much of it available this year as there has been in the past.”
Hurricane Helene, which devastated western North Carolina last September, has also been a factor, he said. Businesses that might have supported the festival instead put money and resources into disaster relief, which Plotnick said is “absolutely where it needed to go.”
“So all of those things kind of compound to create a ‘perfect storm’ scenario that makes it so we’re in a tough position, where we can put on a festival that is smaller but does not accomplish the things that we demand for ourselves from this festival,” he said.
The film festival’s leadership made the cancellation decision in the last several weeks, he said.
About 150 filmmakers had submitted their work, hoping that their films would be among the 60 to 80 that would have been shown across the weekend at various locations downtown, Plotnick said.
Legacy for Fayetteville film buffs
Festival guests over the years saw all sorts of films. Fayetteville filmmaker Jeremiah McLamb made a short movie, The Crux, for the Police Department. It explored issues such as teen sexting and how guns left in unlocked vehicles are commonly stolen and used in crimes. Fayetteville filmmaker Brian Adam Kline has had four films shown at the festival.
Films seen at the Indigo Moon Film Festival have developed wider audiences, Plotnick said. Some of these:
- North Carolina-made Wilmington on Fire, a documentary about the 1898 armed insurrection in Wilmington that overthrew the elected government and led many Black residents to move away.
- Black Barbie: A Documentary, about the development and cultural impact of Black Barbie dolls. The film was picked up by Netflix.
- Women in the Front Seat, a documentary about women who ride motorcycles.
- Hondros, a documentary about the life of internationally known war photographer Chris Hondros, who grew up in Fayetteville. It was streamed on Netflix for several years.
Festival organizers aim to bring the festival back. “That’s our goal, is to look at next year and see if we can put this thing back together for fall 2026,” Plotnick said.
Senior reporter Paul Woolverton can be reached at pwoolverton@cityviewnc.com.
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