It’s great to be deep in the Tennessee Smokies in the small but loud little town of Chattanooga! Usually, HMU has covered this event virtually (our 4th time!) so it was an extra treat to get a chance to attend in person. What makes this year even better is similar to this year's Fantastic Fest we attended Chatt film fest returns in person for the first time since 2019! That is huge! This darling of a festival is showing at the beautiful Read House in downtown Chattanooga.
The “Salute Your Shorts” block kicked off the festival and showcased a lot of talent from the southeast region. Filmmakers like James Ross stuck out with films like AFTER HOURS and shooting for other shorts. SOLITUDE, CROSSING TIDES, RETRIBUTION, and THE BUSINESSMAN were all great shorts.
SATAN WANTS YOU was our main feature for the day since we covered MIND BODY SPIRIT the day before. Make sure to read our review of that fantastic film here https://www.hmuncut.com/post/chattanooga-film-fest-2023-mind-body-spirit-movie-review
We were huge fans of SATAN as it may be one of the best documentaries in the last few years. Please read our review here: https://www.hmuncut.com/post/chattanooga-film-festival-2023-satan-wants-you-movie-review
The rest of the night had us enjoying some fine adult refreshments at the Masquerade ball. Fantastic costumes and big beats carried most of the night for some but for others like myself, it was back to work.
We rounded out the night with a screening of SCREAMBOX’s WE MIGHT HURT EACH OTHER. Check out our thoughts here.
Day 2 gave us the opportunity to hang out with a few filmmakers. First, we met with James Ross the extraordinary young man behind the short AFTER HOURS. We spoke about his time entering FSU film school after pursuing some other passions. Then dug into his passion project which we really hope sees the light of day within the next 2 years!
Up next we met with the man Andrew Adams to talk about his amazing film AMERICAN MELTDOWN. Our review won't be posted until the film premieres but look for our exclusive audio interview with Andrew on the next edition of the Submissions and Slashers podcast.
The Dangerous Visions shorts block was a huge hit with shorts like GNOMES and others standing out among the filmgoers. The big feature of the night was the premiere of SOUR PARTY made its world premiere in front of a packed house look for our review soon. There were a few other films playing that day including THE ELDERLY which we loved from FANTASTIC FEST. Instead of returning to the films we hit the second big hosted party of the weekend. CHATTANOOGA FILM FEST sent us on a great second-night shindig with a boat party on the "Southern Belle". It brought a great end to the official 2nd day (unofficial third day if you made it to the Thursday party).
Sunday had a full schedule but unfortunately, my time did not allow me to stay. So with my sincerest apologies, I regret any of the films I missed Sunday but hopefully, they will all be available on the virtual portion of the festival.
Don't forget the virtual festival goes til June 29th and you can still access the films here:
Thanks so much to Bex and all the amazing staff and volunteers of the CHATTANOOGA FILM FEST we can't wait to return next year!