January 26, 2025
VALDOSTA, GA – The 2025 South Georgia Film Festival (SGFF) passes are now available. This year’s event will take place March 7, 8, & 9 on the North Campus of Valdosta State University, with films from across the world with an emphasis on the art and industry growing here in the Southeast.
While the festival will screen submissions from around the world, two projects were curated for our local community.
“For the last decade, we’ve built a strong network of filmmakers across the country and the world,” said Jason Brown Festival Director. “Bringing filmmakers from across the country to Valdosta to engage our community has been our driving force for all of these years and we don’t plan to stop now!”
This year’s festival will feature a screening of the LIGHTS, CAMERA, FRIENDSHIP episode produced here in Valdosta. Filmmaker Joey Travolta’s docuseries examines friendship, connection and common ground through the perspective of young adults on the autism spectrum spending a week together. The young people create connections by making friends, shopping, learning to dance, and gathering with those like themselves. Along with Valdosta, the series visited other locations across the country including Lodi, California.
On Friday March 7, the film RATIFIED will screen at Pound Hall on the North Campus of Valdosta State. RATIFIED is a feature documentary about the 100-year struggle for constitutional gender equality, particularly an effort to make Virginia the 38th and final state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. Co-director Sabaah Folayan will present the film and discuss some of the current events affecting the film.
Along with the many films to be screened at this year’s festival, panels and workshops will be held to help our community learn more about the film industry and ways to participate. This year’s panels include Emily Best of SEED & SPARK, who will discuss crowdfunding and how we can build an film industry independent of Hollywood; Allison Hogue with the SALVATION ARMY of Georgia, who will talk about her work specifically during Hurricane Helene to use video to get resources to those in need; Melissa Simpson of FILM IMPACT GEORGIA (FIG), who will discuss FIG’s bi-annual grant for native Georgia Filmmakers along with many resources available across the state for those interested in filmmaking; Marty Lang of the University of Georgia and John Rash of University of Mississippi, who will discuss their respective MFA programs in filmmaking in the South; Kate Fortmueller of Georgia State University, who will take about her recent book BELOW THE STARS; Brooke Sonenreich who is the Head of Marketing and Events with Moonshine Post & Founder of Atl Film Party, and director Ebony Blanding, who will discuss her time as the 2024 Emerging Creative in Residence at Trilith Studios and the production of her film “A Mess of Memories.”
The festival will also provide question and answer sessions after each film block for visiting filmmakers to discuss their work, along with a panel with alumni from the Valdosta State University Mass Media program and contributions from Valdosta State University faculty including Melissa Pihos and Christy Yates.
“We are putting on a party for the community,” Jason Brown, Festival Director said. “Showcasing films from across the country and the world, we want to introduce Valdosta to great films, some great filmmakers to Valdosta, and let everyone have a good time. Be a part of party and show the world what you can do.”
This year’s festival could not happen without the support of our community sponsors, including Georgia Council for the Arts, Valdosta State University, the Georgia Film Office, the Walmart Community Grant, Wild Adventures, the City of Valdosta, the Turner Center for the Arts, Georgia Production Partnership, the Valdosta-Lowndes County Chamber of Commerce, and Film Impact Georgia.
For more information on the South Georgia Film Festival, visit SouthGeorgiaFilm.com or contact Prof. Jason Brown at 229-219-1298 or jasonebrown@valdosta.edu.
