A staff report
The Indigo Moon Film Fest will feature local filmmakers with its first “local block” of films, according to festival co-founder Pat Wright.
A documentary about the unlikely friendship between two 20th-century icons of religion and social justice will kick off the 2022 festival, according to a news release
“Mission: Joy — Finding Happiness in a Troubled War” features the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu discussing how to create joy in a world that was never easy for them.
The film is one of 55 that will be featured in this year’s Indigo festival, which for the first time since the height of the COVID pandemic will present in-person screenings at Cameo Art House Theatre and the Arts Council of Fayetteville-Cumberland County, the release said.
The festival will be Oct. 7-9.
Other highlights of the festival lineup include works by four filmmakers with Fayetteville ties. They are:
- The documentary short “Friends of the Skatepark.” Fayetteville director James Throssel looks at the history of skateboarding and how a nonprofit organization has helped build public skateparks.
- The documentary short “Home. With Honors.” North Carolina director Chuck Fishbein explores how the town of Garner created a massive gathering to honor Vietnam-era veterans.
- “The Crux.” Fayetteville filmmaker Jeremiah McLamb takes a hard look at issues facing today’s teens and families. From sexting and guns to the effects of parental death, the film explores the choices that many teens face and the consequences of those decisions.
- “What If I Were You?” Directed by Brian Adam Kline of Fayetteville, the film follows a pair of octogenarian actresses pounding the pavement of New York with as much gusto and hope as ever. Kline teaches theater and film at The Capitol Encore Academy and is a veteran of the Gilbert Theater. He has also taught summer courses at Fayetteville Technical Community College.
“Mission: Joy” was directed by Academy Award winner Louie Psihoyos and Peggy Callahan. In their “final joint mission,” the self-described “mischievous brothers” offer neuroscience-backed wisdom to help people live with more joy despite their circumstances, according to the release.
The 14th Dalai Lama, born Tenzin Gyatso, is a Buddhist monk and the spiritual leader of Tibet. Tutu, who died on Dec. 26, 2021, was a South African Anglican cleric who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for his role in opposing apartheid.
“In this day and age, we could all use more joy, and this film fulfills that promise,” festival co-founder Jan Johnson said in the news release.
The film will be shown at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 7 at the Cameo theater. The screening will be followed by an opening night reception at SkyView on Hay at 121 Hay St.
“Mission: Joy” will be shown again at 1 p.m. Oct. 9.
“Everyone should see ‘Mission: Joy,’” Wright said in the release. “With our country so divided, it’s wonderful to see two people from such different backgrounds as friends talking about how to find common ground and happiness.”
Click here to watch the trailer for "Mission: Joy."
Single tickets or passes for specific days of the week are available, as well as student passes.
Click here for information or to buy tickets to Indigo Moon Film Fest.
Proceeds of the festival will benefit the Veterans Farm of North Carolina.
Other films to be presented during the Indigo Film Fest include:
- The documentary short “356.” Filmed off the North Carolina coast, it tells the story of a film crew documenting the story of endangered whales that stumbles onto an unexpected journey.
- “Shaping Seagrove.” Student filmmaker Kevin Eames and the Randolph Community College photojournalism Class of 2022 presents a documentary on the Pottery Capital of the U.S.
- “Tidal Alert.” Director Terry Brown looks at PFAS contamination and the GenX controversy as well as animal waste and plastics threatening water quality in coastal North Carolina. Many in the fishing community are sounding an urgent alarm. The Coastal Carolina Riverwatch organization commissioned the documentary.
- “Birthday Boy.” Dan Sellers, who has a film studio in Greensboro, directs the story of an abusive dad who gets his just desserts on his birthday.
- “Bury the Light.” Victorian death rituals and creepy graveyards blend in a psychedelic music-and-dance film from multimedia troupe The Bipeds of Durham.
- The documentary short “American Justice on Trial: People v. Newton.” Black Panthers leader Huey P. Newton faces the death penalty for killing a white policeman in 1968.
- “Backyard Blackbird.” Directed by Andrew Huggins, who was born in Concord, it’s the story of parents dealing with the strange behaviors of their 11-year-old son.
- The narrative short “God Bless.” Charlotte director Kempson Bellington tells the story of a mentally ill man who, in an attempt to gain control of a city that has wronged him, rebuilds it — in miniature.
- The narrative short “Interstate.” First-time filmmaker Jozua Malherbe follows Olivia and Diane, who shared a childhood in unsafe circumstances before taking different paths. The adult Diane reaches out from her stable life to Olivia, a prostitute in prison.
- The animated “Lovely Rita.” The strict traffic policewoman Rita loves order in her workplace and draws up a rigid, rectangular road network through which she directs drivers with precise instructions.
- The narrative short “Marie.” After decades of separation, a transsexual woman has to introduce herself to her father once again.
- “Part Forever.” Huei and her husband confront a dark secret when they come to say goodbye to her dear sister in a story about the Taiwanese custom that the soul of a dead person visits the family home within three days of death.
- The narrative short “Return to Sender.” Director Russell Goldman and producer Jamie Lee Curtis share a chilling story about a woman involved in a delivery scam that grows increasingly strange. Starring Allison Tolman of “Fargo.”
- “The Ugly Truth.” Mona and Theo live with their daughter, Hanna, in an idyllic villa in Berlin. When the attractive 18-year-old daughter of a friend comes to visit, the fragility of the family is revealed.
