Mountain Lights

We are building a world-class film festival for filmmakers and stories rooted in or inspired by the American Southeast. [Launching 2026]

06/18/2026

📽 Why a film festival?! 🎬

06/16/2026

Who is behind MOUNTAIN LIGHTS?! 👀

A small but mighty team of folks working hard to bring a world class film festival to Black Mountain to honor and celebrate stories from the American South.

We do need your help tho! Do you have a passion for film and building community? Do you have a background in marketing? Operations? Sponsorship? DM us!

06/10/2026

Our THREE-DAY LIVE FESTIVAL will be held August 21st-23rd, 2026 at the Asheville Masonic Temple in beautiful downtown Asheville, North Carolina. Our festi...

06/09/2026

✨️ Cinema Treasures: History of the Black Mountain Pix Theatre 📽

1] This 1960s photograph shows the Pix Theatre in downtown Black Mountain. Under the ownership of Lee Hiltz, the theater opened on East State Street in 1924 as the New Theater. In 1946, following Hiltz's death, his widow, Bertha Nell Crawford Hiltz, sold the theater to her son Albert J. "Laddie" Terrell Jr., and his wife, Harriette M. Terrell. Renamed the Pix Theatre around 1968, the venue continued to operate into the 1970s until it was torn down. The present-day site of the Pix Theatre is now sadly the Black Mountain Town Square parking lot.

2] Via Nathan Padgett - "This picture of my dad was taken from the Pure Oil station (present day ) with the Pix theater in the background circa 1963.

3] Leaflet ad for upcoming screenings at The Pix, probably around 1955

06/04/2026

🎬 Film community: An empathy machine

"For me, the movies are like a machine that generates empathy. It helps us to identify with the people who are sharing this journey with us." - Roger Ebert

📸

06/02/2026

🎞 👉 👉👉 There is lots of amazing film work in development and premiering out in the world from our local community at the moment!

What projects are you working on? What work do you have your eyes on in the southeast?!

05/14/2026

A beautiful place on earth.

We are working hard to create our year one festival in Black Mountain NC on April 2027.

MOUNTAIN LIGHTS is a world-class festival for filmmakers and stories rooted in or inspired by the American Southeast.

05/12/2026

For us cinema is communal. We are slowly building over here at MOUNTAIN LIGHTS 😉

Stills From:
1. Koyaanisqatsi
2. The Crow
3. Man with a Movie Camera
4. The Thin Blue Line

Music:

05/02/2026

In our early years, a portion of every dollar will go back to the WNC region through the MOUNTAINS LIGHTS Impact Fund, starting with local farmers - because food and farming are the first economy. is MOUNTAIN LIGHTS fiscal sponsor, a nonprofit that supports mission-aligned projects by receiving and managing grant funds on its behalf. This arrangement allows MOUNTAIN LIGHTS to access charitable funding while focusing on creative film programming, with the Black Mountain Tailgate Market ensuring transparency and compliance through its Nourish Appalachia program.

The main season market starts today May 2nd 9am–12pm 🥕🥦🍓

05/01/2026

We've been working hard over the last few weeks planning for next years full festival. That said we want to give a special shout to the wonderful folks who helped make our launch event happen! 🙏🙌

If you would you like to learn more about sponsoring a portion of our full festival in 2027 please DM us!

music credit - "Lovely Day"

Address

Black Mountain, NC

Website

https://www.mountainlights.org/

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